Leaving Austin

And then she finally let her breath catch up. Sitting on the train, she could still feel her heart pounding, trying to catch up. It was not like her to almost miss her train. Then again, this wasn't just any trip.
Natalia started to analyze her likely hesitancy for the trip and quickly stopped herself. "No wasting" she thought to herself, and immediately started channeling her thoughts into the multiple cases of patients she was leaving behind. And the train started moving.

The trip to Mexico would take roughly 6.2 hours and she had only 1 hour left in the network of the Republic of Texas. She could finish the notes on the Tenneman case to Caroll in 15 minutes if she rushed.
As the train left the train station, the noise of metalworking and of building of the new Austin Terminus Central was deafening. She hesitantly lift up her eyes as she was departing, seeing the city she had not left in so long.
The beaming Revivalist buildings were a sight to see. The city was bustling and the lake looked as beautiful as she had once remembered it. The weather was perfect and people were out and about despite the sun being at the apex. She could see the main building where the old power central used to be and she felt enamored with her city once more. The green lush around the lake made her feel like things were finally on the right track again.
But then the train crossed the powered dome and the Yellow Zone landscape set in. She quickly looked down at her files and found the motivation she needed to dive in.

Rose Tenneman was a most unusual case by how textbook perfect it was. She was struggling with Temporal Dislocation Syndrome, "who wasn't?", Natalia thought. But she was adapting well to her job after a mix of talk therapy and getting a new dog.
She might be able to use her case to write an article about the effectiveness of her therapy. "That is only if Bartosh doesn't ruin it with his meds cocktail". Her dimwitted colleague loved over-analyzing a case and throwing everything but the kitchen sink whenever people relapsed. She knew Rose would relapse. She was adjusting well, she was finally feeling like herself and even seeing a guy. Natalia knew Rose would soon test her the boundaries of her new confidence by spending too much time with the guy, neglecting her pet and sleeping too little to catch up on work. Then she would feel out of control and yearn for simpler times, which would trigger a 10-year long void in her memory that would send her into a panic, while trying to find those simpler times.
Natalia knew by now that it was better to accept that the relapse would come, but those memories wouldn't, she knew that all too well. But Bartosh didn't. He would be blindsided by this relapse and try every new experimental technique available to him, claiming whatever got her back on her routine a stellar solution. "Please don't try mud therapy…"

And like that, the Tenneman case was updated, along with the Zickler and Ybanez cases. And all under 25 minutes. She wondered if she should make headway into the Garcia and Fimol cases, or if it would be wiser to leave them for once she arrived in Mexico. "Maybe start reading up on the recent 'pets as grounding objects' study", but she had 5.9 hours of train ride and only 35 minutes left of network left, so she reached into her bag.
Her hand immediately felt the satchel she had quickly stuffed inside it. "Leon…". She found it in her mailbox with no note or receipient, clearly it had been dropped in person, but the organic feel of the mycelium leather immediately made her know no person in Austin was the sender.

She scrambled to find her other reports and made dutiful work of the remaining 34 minutues, until…"no signal".
She was officially out of the Republic of Texas, but even worse, when she lifted her gaze, she realized they were crossing a Red Zone.
The terrain was dry and ravaged. No sign of life as far as she could see. Or green. She could swear the sky looked a tinge of reddish rust. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the train seemed to be going faster, trying to rush past the desolate landscape. There were twisters in the distance pulling up dust and debris. The train should be protected, but not too much. There were clouds of dust that covered the sun, but you could still get the sense that you wouldn't last more than a couple hours out there due to the heat. Or even less than that.
Natalia stood up from her seat and started pacing around. There weren't many people on this wagon, or this train for that matter. Communications between Mexico and the Republic of Texas were improving, but you still didn't hear much of the outside world. The weekly train was well maintained solely because Austin wouldn't be the last destination.
Although lately there seemed to be a higher influx of people going south. If the stories were to be believed, Mexico was seeing a renaissance of sorts. Mexico City was rebuilding after 50 years of being practically deserted and the city to the south was a bustling haven for the Green Hands. What was the name? She always seemed to forget…the city Dr. Leon was originally from.

She nervously thought of the satchel and whatever could be hiding inside it. She paced around the wagon and this old mad with a hat looked at her with a calm smile. That made her feel more unease. She decided to sit down and the man sent her what must've been a warm and reassuring smile. It made her feel uncomfortable nonetheless and she put her bag in the seat next to her. She couldn't avoid it any longer so she decided to take the satchel out and open it.

"What?" A conch, alongside a more familiar binder. But a pinkish seashell the type she always saw in depictions of the ocean of long ago. "Is this a souvenir? A reminder?" Natalia knew people used to associate a conch with white, peaceful beaches. They were all over in modern works of the 39er artists. They said you could go to the beach and lay in the sun for hours, letting it melt your cares away and even get in the water. There were plans of rebuilding the Galveston island in the coming decades, many miles away from the Houston bay.
Perhaps she too could one day take a vacation in the beach, perhaps this conch was a reminder of that hope. "Have you gone full Revivalist, Leon? Ha, not you."
But it did make her feel at ease enough to open the binder.

The binder was thick with text, photos and statistic charts. This made her feel a little eager. The first few pages were psychological profiles of cases very familiar to her. Page after page of the Returned who were experiencing Temporal Dislocation Syndrome in Revivalist cities. Leon had apparently been able to compile data from all over. Toronto, Chicago, Huntsville. It must've taken months to travel and compile all this information. There were detailed descriptions of treatment plans that were being attempted and the familiar results that Natalia knew. Revivalist cities all over were seemingly booming, but the more people that moved there, the worse the TDS cases seemed to get.
But there were also notes on the Green Hand cities and how they were slowly catching up…in all but TDS numbers. It was Natalia's belief that the Green Hands were exaggerating their success, a ploy that Leon was likely falling for due to his age, but she also believed there was some usefulness to their methods. She had, after all, copied their idea of joining a community garden and adopted a pet lizard to calm her own symptoms down. She hadn't had a dislocation episode in over three weeks.

The binder continued into a new section, recounting events Natalia had just read about in history books. The time before the Hum, when cities started to collapse and the endeavors to counteract it with technological inventions was coming to a clash. "200 million dead", "nations collapsing", "x species lost". She hated reading about the 2030s. The 39ers might think the solution was hidden in that decade, but all she could think about was the widespread misery that started during those times…and how it kept going for decades to come.
"Enough misery to go around". The topic depressed her, but when she looked up, she realized they were now in Restoriationist territory. There was finally some greenery here and there, and you could see the Girasoles doing their work to keep it that way. These marvels of technology would capture the sun's power, release moisture during the night, intertwine with the local flora, produce nutrients and reflect most of the rays in its invisible net. They were purple towers, 10 feet tall, with petal-like structures at the top. They would always be rotating with the wind. She knew there were many prototypes now that worked more efficiently or did one of those jobs more effectively depending on the terrain, but to the desperate people of decades past, this was their last restort so they could hopefully come back to a better world.

She looked at the old man, who was looking out at the landscape, and she decided to approach him.
— They look peaceful, don't they?
— Yes, peaceful.
— Were you around when they set them up?
— I was. I set up my share of them.
— So I take it you're a Remainer.
— Haha, I wish. It wasn't the full decade, but I missed some years.
— I see. I'm a therapist working with Returners. Can I ask you some questions? Do you ever get night terrors? You know, the--
— Yes, TDS, I know where you're going. Do you want me to respond the questionnaire or does it suffice to say that I still have it?
— I'm sorry, I didn't want to assume…. — The TDS is the least of my worries. I have 3 types of cancer that just keep coming back. I'm healthy enough to keep up with my work, but my son wants me to go south.
— Why? Does he think they have better treatments there? — No, it's a death sentence. He won't say it, but he thinks it's a good chance for me to enjoy the time I have left…so I'm choosing to try to think like him.
— I'm sorry…. — I had family down there. Might still have. I don't mind it if I get to see them again…I'm feeling hopeful about it.
— I hope you find them.
— Are you going to see someone? You seemed restless.
— An old mentor of mine, he sent for me. Bought me the ticket and all. I think he wants to believe there's been a breakthroughs with TDS.
— And is that why you were pacing around?
— No…I haven't left Texas in the longest time. I don't know what I'll find.
— Haha, so you and I are walking the same road. Your pacing around seemed familiar. What do you do when you feel jittery like that?
— I read. Take in some more patients. And you?
— I sing.

And the old man began to sing an old song Natalia couldn't make out, but that she could understand. She leaned into the headrest of the seat in front of the man and listened wistfully as he kept on singing. From time to time, the old man would smile and she'd respond with another smile. Maybe this trip would be good to her…. It was then that they went into a tunnel briefly and then came out the other side to find themselves inside a Red Zone. This one was worse than before, with the destroyed remains of a full town in the distance. They must be approaching Mexico City…

The old man stopped his singing cold and excused himself, giving Natalia a brief and weary smile as he got up to look at the remains from the window. "He must've seen it as it was once before", she thought.
She went back to her seat and picked up the binder her mentor left for her. The details of the Decade of the Great Decay were gruesome and she tried to skim them, flipping pages faster and faster.
As she made it to the last few pages and sees a rendering of Mexico City in those days, the train turned around the mountain and it revealed the shade of the city it once was. It was like the whole city was in a gruesome display. It made her ill to think this was what had almost befallen Austin, had they also run out of water.
However, you could see some domes here and there that were surely the work of the Revivalists of the region. She gripped the binder and said a silent prayer to herself, that they could, that they all could, make it.

She turned the last few pages and found a depiction of the conch in the last one. "Instructions?"
She turned that last page and found a handwritten note pasted on the back cover of the binder, it read:

	  My dear Natalia,
	  May Cuernavaca welcome you with open arms, as it always did to me.
	  Don't let the wonders of this world run out on you.
	  You are my pride and hope.

	  Please,
	  Go where I cannot,
	  Share what I won't,
	  Forgive whom I could not

	  Clear your mind, take a deep breath
	  And breath into the conch

	  Leon

And so, she did. Her breath seemed to spark up a faint green light inside the conch, which traveled through at the same rate her breath did. A faint green, then blue, then purple…and the whole conch started glowing. From the back tip, small vine-like appendages started growing and clawing around each other, forming an entangled surface that kept expanding. They formed the edges of a rectangle and started filling the space inside it. The conch started glowing more intensely, now yellow, then orange. The strange vines kept reaching to cover all the empty spaces, and a hard surface formed itself, which signaled to the conch to start sending glowing green bits to the rectangle, here and there and there too.
It started to look like a hefty book, whose hard cover protected the inside that was getting built and formed.
Natalia felt both like dropping the newly-formed book like it was hot like burning coals, but also felt like embracing it closer to her chest and protecting--maybe herself, maybe the book with that embrace.
She closed her eyes and focused on the sound, like falling sound that was filling up an empty glass. It took her back to the time of her childhood and the first time she went to the beach. Faces of people she did not know anymore, the feeling of wonder and a world ever-expanding and wholly unexplored…. It took her back to when she first met Leon, his husky voice and the whiskey aroma around him, then his tender way of treating her and his deep concern for doing what's right, how the contrast made her feel the same way she did when gazing at the ocean. Meeting the sea when all you thought there was was land. The realization of how little she knew and how wrong she was about the few things she knew.

The book was as almost as big as her torso when she opened up her eyes again. It had an intricate cover of what seemed like tree roots and a glyph in the middle that reminded her of those ancient Aztec codexes. "What is this?"
She turned the cover to find more glyphs in vibrant hues of blue, red, green and yellow. A whole map presented itself before her. She felt like she was staring into a storybook that was calling to her.

In that moment, the train descended down the misty clouds of the mountain and dusklight stuck her face. She could his city in the distance. "Cuernavaca." She could make out the train lines and the tranvias, as they got closer, she could make out the bigger buildings, and the rows of solarpanels and bouganvilleas.
Further away, she could see what she remembered of the Tepozteco, the small mountain that overlooked Tepoztlan. She had not been to either town nor city since the last time she saw Leon, but it was clear the people here had moved on since those times. A surprisingly big settlement could be seen between the two and she wondered if this was one of the new cities that had popped up in the missing decade.

The train rushed to the station, like it was in a hurry to finally get home. She felt a strange nostalgia and then choked up with a hint of pain. "A bad omen", she felt.

After grabbing her things and stashing the book away in the satchel, she got off the train and admired the plant-filled station with the stylish metalwork decor. She looked around until she saw-- — Monty!

The burly man was staring calmly at her. Seeing him made her almost tear up. He was just standing there, with a gentle smile, looking at her…. — Welcome back, Natalia. Let me handle that luggage for you. He effortlessly carried the bag that had been weighing on her all the way to the train station in Austin, then turned around, put it over his shoulder and started walking.
— Montante, where are you going? I haven't seen you in forever and--
— We need to take care of something before I drop you off home.
— An errand?
— Of sorts. I need to call off the search.

The excitement and relief she had been feeling, the sense of serendipity she felt when she saw him again, they all faded by the time he was done.
— Thank you captain. For all your efforts.
— You be well, Montante. I'm sorry for your loss.
Natalia just kept following in disbelief as he dropped her off at the station.
— Ride the train to Tres Marías. Go to this address (he handed her a piece of paper). I left some dinner out for you and Miss Lina will show you were everything is. I'll come by tomorrow to explain a little more. Try to get some sleep.
— Are you…sure it's him?
— Yeah, and judging by his telling you to come here, it was no accident. I think he planned it, Natalia.
— But he can't be…. — He's dead. I saw the body. I'd be more surprised if it wasn't suicide at this point. Whatever sick message Leon wanted to send, he wanted to make sure we were both here to get it. And that he made a statement with it. If that´s not the most Leon thing he could do to scamper off this world…

Natalia rode the train alone to wherever she was off to next. She felt intense pressure on her chest, that had been building up long before this trip, but that she finally allowed to bubble up to the surface. "All for nothing…it was all for nothing…". She looked at the night sky and realized she was in a strange country, far from home, with a man she no longer knew and a dream that now dead. She hugged the book from her satchel and started crying, sobbing, while there was nobody on the train cart who could hear her.

The Fugue

Montante found her aboard the train after she was coming back on the second round trip. People around her said she went into a fugue state, that she seemed catatonic, but she knew it was just her TDS acting up. It was common for people to experience an episode after distressing news or moments of stress.
Since then she had holed up in her new room, with Miss Lina leaving meals outside her door and then collecting them a couple hours later.
Her throat was sore, her eyes burned and the skin of her face was painfully dry. She would just look at the ceiling fan going round and round, thinking of this and that, asking herself why she cared so much.
Montante had tried to see her a number of times, but relented when he got no response. No, not true, he would stay outside of her door until he made sure he could hear her slow and labored breathing, then he would leave. "He doesn't want to deal with another suicide".
She struggled to make sense of why she cared so much. It wasn't the shock of the news, or whatever reasoning he might've had for doing it. It was the ridiculousness of it all and the theatrics. Monty was right, it was just like him to do this.
So why did she care? And why did she care so much?

This past "mentor" of hers had barely mattered. She barely knew him for 2 years, and he mostly taught her how to conduct boring surveys of people going into the Yosemite-C.
So why did she care? Why care for this old, grumpy man who was drunk half the time she saw him and who had the nerve to call her to another country, away from her work and her life, only to commit suicide as theater. "He probably only did it because he knew I was coming".

Determined to move on from this chapter, and to not give him the sick satisfaction he so desired, she decided to use the tools from ther practice to leave the mess behind. So she closed her eyes and…tap, tap, tap…it was gone. It was a new day and she didn't have time to sit around and mope.

Back in Action

She walked down to the first floor and found Miss Lina, the elderly woman who owned the house picking up her plate from the table as Monty continued eating breakfast.
She greeted Natalia and carried on with her day, Monty was dumbstruck.
"I hope you had a good nap", said Miss Lina.

— I…did?
— You seem well.

Monty had a silly smile on his face. His mountainous figure took up most of the tiny room inbetween the kitchen and the livingroom. The house was quaint and she wasn't sure about the details of the arrangement. They arrived in the middle of the night and she hadn't had much interaction with Miss Lina, other than coldly refusing the meals she made for her.

— Sorry, let me help you with this!
— No need, girl. You should get ready instead. It's your first day of school, remember?
— Ah, no, that's on Monday…
— What day do you think it is? All that spacing out didn't do you any favors. You won't be getting that time back.
— That's a delicate subject, Nana…

Miss Lina was clearly bothered, and Natalia wasn't surprised. She knew that out here, TDS wasn't taken very seriously and someone older like Miss Lina probably viewed it with skepticism. No, it was said as sorrowful advice. "She must be a Returner. 4, 6…8 years?", Natalia thought. She imagined what it must've been like for an older woman like her to wake up after 8 years in an older, more fragile body.
She focused on the task at hand. It had taken her more than a couple hours to compose herself, it clearly. Monty started to get up to see how he could help her.

— You don't have to start today…
— No, I'm ready.
— You don't even know what subject you're supposed to be teaching.
— Is it not Psychology?
— Oh no…

It was Philosophy and Ethics, her most disliked subject. She started to feel flushed and nervous, but she knew she could get by for the first day if she just studied the material properly.

— Of course…just lend me the syllabus and his class notes. Leon may have been a mess in his personal life, but he was nothing if not organized.
— I don't know how helpful these will be…

He handed her a binder full of pages in disarray. She tried not to let the anxiety take over and instead laid them all out on the table. She took a step back and allowed her brain to take in the information, then closed her eyes and thought of a familiar place. Her Austin apartment. She didn't have time, so something familiar would do. She started arranging the concepts and a minute later, opened her eyes to find Monty looking at her sternly with his mouth open.
Monty: Is this a Continuum thing?
Natalia: No, just a memory palace. It's a basic technique along with maximizing throughput for--
Lina: You're teaching teenagers, how much talking do you really think you'll get to do?

She was right, but she didn't want to mess it up. It was her first day and she needed to set the expectations right, after all.

Arriving at the school

It was her first day at school, the Marymount, where Leon used to teach. Her and Monty took the train together, as he was also now bound to the dying wish of a man neither one of them remembered fondly.

The school was much bigger than she had expected. An ex-convent turned into a private school, it was surrounded by trees and full of colonial architecture, big wooden doors and Monty mentioned there were hidden passageways that connected the full layout of the buildings.
It was hard to find architecture this old in Austin. At least, nothing that was still in use…

She noticed quickly that this was no regular highschool like the ones in Austin, there were few terminals to access knowledge but more importantly, some kids did not look like teenagers at all. She could see some wearing a lavander sweater, others an olive green one, some here and there with deep blue. There was no rhyme or reason based on their appearance. Some looked like they could be in their early 20s.

— This…is odd. What do the colors mean?
— Ah, of course, this may be different for you. You'll be teaching the olives, those are the 10th graders. They have to use colors to integrate the Remainers and the Returners.

Not at all what she was used to.

Natalia had not seen cohorts this homogenous. She was used to groups of people of wildly different ages that were formed by their mental age, not their biological age. Could it be that…

— Is this school only for Remainers?
— Not officially.

She could see the discomfort in his face. He clearly d

—
— …that's one of the many reasons I would rather not be teaching here.
— Yes, but you're a Remainer. And…I'm not.
— Yes, but so was Leon. Maybe that's why he was teaching here? I think Directora Mendez will like your fast-paced Austin approach.

She could see the logic. The Coalition had made great strides in reintegrating both camps in Austin, primarily by using an advanced curriculum from the 30s that got everyone up to speed.
She wished she had access to that curricula now.

N- Weird, some of the students here look like they should be in college.
M- I thought this would be normal for you. Most of them are returned, like you.

Natalia remembered that Monty was not like her. He didn't have 10 years of his life missing. She felt a knot in her throat starting to form, so she decided to move on.
N- So where do we register for our class?
M- Here's your teaching plan.
Natalia felt embarrassed. She was always on top of everything, especially planning a class. Maybe coming here was a mistake.
M- Are you okay?
N- Of course.
M- I don't believe you. Come on, talk to me. Aren't you the therapist?
N- Solving your own issues isn't as easy…if only I could clone myself.
M- I can't do a convincing impression of you, but…what would you do if I was struggling instead?
N- I would say that you're starting a new job in another country after a tragic loss. That this is not the time to be hard on yourself, but rather to be open to new opportunities.
M- That's a damn good impression of good therapy. For a moment I thought you'd tell me to just swallow some overpriced pills.
N- Haha, no, but some of my colleagues would. I try to start with understanding the root of the problem before trying to solve the symptoms.
M- Good luck here. You're going to have many symptoms.

They approached the hallway where they would find their classrooms. It overlooked a large courtyard with a well in the middle and some palm trees on the side. She entered the classroom.

Meeting the Principal

The school was strangely old. They were still using technology from decades ago and were unable to move away from paper. She wondered if the paper supply issues were also present in Cuernavaca.

They moved on to the Principal's office after a long wait. Natalia's class was meant to start in 20 minutes but she was still waiting. She would probably arrive late to her first day after all. Monty stayed with her, even though his gardening class was not scheduled until the afternoon.
M- Strange, huh?
N- That she said we would only wait for 5 minutes and it's been 30?
M- Yes, although I'm not surpised. People don't see 5 minutes here like they do in Austin.
N- Then what were you referring to?
M- Being here again. I haven't seen you in 15 years…and we're back at school. Waiting on the Principal like we were…15 again.
N- It's only been 5 years for me…
M- It's been a long time.
N- …
M- How is Austin after all these years?
N- Very high-paced, is right. The first years were very messy, but we've been doing well since then. They finally restored the building in Lavaca.
M- The chilli place?
N- Now it's a salad and chilli place.
M- Awful. …and how are you in Austin?
N- Good. I really like my job. I work for Salinka and I'm an L42, so I should be able to make director in 3 years if I get some of my papers approved. I guess now it might be 4 years…
M- And that means?
N- Oh, I'm a corporate therapist. I help employees reach their maximum potential. And I do a good job.
M- So major hustler?
N- No, I'm actually slacking by some metrics… I'm trying this new approach to TDS that requires a slow pace and taking it easy.
M- That's the thing you get where you dissociate because of your time in the Yosemite Continuum?
N- Yes. Which, you must see a lot of cases, right?
M- Not that many, no.
N- But reports in Mexico are just 3/4ths of the ones in Austin!
M- I don't know what to tell you. I've never seen one as bad as yours, at least. Not trying to be critical…
N- …Were you ever curious?
M- About the Yosemite C?
N- Yes. Maybe trying it out, seeing the people there?
M- You know how I feel about computers. Plus, I never did like the idea. If we were going to improve the environment, we weren't going to do it by just going to sleep for a couple centuries.
N- We weren't just sleeping.
M- Last I checked, you don't have any stories to tell about it.
N- …
M- Sorry.
N- It's fine. I just…you never thought of going to visit me?
M- …

The Principal comes out. She has big hair and is wearing a lot of jewelry.

D- Hello, hello. I'm Lomeli Mendez, I run the school here. Sorry you had to wait, there is a lot that needs to happen for 2 new teachers to come in out of the blue. And you know how Leon left us with many plates spinning.
M and N- …
D- So you are Montante? Pleasure to have you!
M- I've actually volunteered before, so I know some of the kids from this school. Just not sure who I'll be getting.
D- Fantastic! And you…
N- Natalia M, nice to meet you!
D- You're from…Texas?
N- Yes, Austin in the Republic of Texas. I was taught directly by Leon and I'm excited to continue his work here.
D- Yes, yes…well, are you qualified to teach Philosophy? I couldn't find any mention of it in your file.
N- I took the accelerated program for the Humanities by Berkley two years ago.
D- Berkley? Oh, you should've highlighted that in your resume.
N- Sorry, it was automated. We use a very specific format.
D- Of course you do. Well, you should be heading to your class. I trust you are prepared?
N- Yes, I reviewed the syllabus and prepared with Leon's notes.
D- Oh…well, your classroom is down the stairs, across the well, go through the art class and go up the library stairs. And you should be able to see the hallway. 10-A.
M- Isn't it faster to…just take a right from this hallway?
D- Well, yes, but…Natalia should get familiarized with the layout.
M- A tour might be better, in that case.
D- A tour? But she's about to be late! In fact, she's…1 minute late, now.
M- Already?!
N- I'll see you later, Monty. Nice to meet you, Directora Mendez! I'm going to have to run now!!

She ran and made it 2 minutes late to the class. It really was much faster to just turn right.

The first class

N- Hello students. I am Natalia M. I will be your substitute teacher for today and for the rest of the semester.

Everyone stood up and started chanting in unison, "Hello, miss Natalia." Then they sat down.

N- As you have likely heard by now, your former professor passed away tragically…

Nobody moved, they didn't even react. Did they know? This might be easier than she expected.

N- Your syllabus says you were learning about the economy in the pre-fall days.

Not a single voice was heard. She was unsure if her translation box was working properly.

N- You all can hear me, right? I was told it was ok to let you use the translation boxes, or that you all speak English if not…

Some students nodded here and there, so she took it to mean she was good to go. But where should she start? She recalled the images and concepts of the lecture after closing her eyes for a second, and then prepared to start…but there it was. Monty was telling her what had happened to Leon and she started to feel a wave building up inside her.

She realized she was being overcome by the mess again, so she closed her eyes for another moment and…tap, tap, tap. The classroom was merely an assignment now. The students were looking at her in confusion, but she didn't care. She carried on with the lecture.

Natalia didn’t look at the students. She looked at the dust motes dancing in the shafts of light from the high colonial windows.

N-"The 2030s were a period of great economic development and social unrest that was just as big'" she said, her voice sounding like a recording even to herself. "Some refer to this as The Gilded Age, some others as The Great Decay. We all know what it led to in 2039, but let's first examine the conditions and situations that lead some to believe this was the greatest decade of the world."

The lecture continued without a hitch, she was able to deliver the whole plan, remembering each note in the notebook with pinpoint accuracy. Her training had prepared her well. With a confident face, she said

N- That is all. You may leave now.
Just as the analog bell rang.

After the first day

She reconvenes with Monty. They ride the train back.
M- And then they clapped?
N- They did. Apparently I did such a good job, they haven't had a teacher deliver such a polished lecture.
M- I don't know, these are highschool students. Did you imagine it?
N- No, they actually went ahead and clapped after I was done!
M- …
M- Well, I'm going to the Hacienda today. You're welcome to come if you want. I could use your luck.
N- It wasn't luck, it was preparation.
M- This morning you didn't even know what topic you were going to teach.
N- And look at me now!
M- I do need to get inside the mind of a delusional man, so maybe you're the best person for the job…

At the Hacienda

It's an old building. With plants coming in from the outside. A mix of technology and old architecture.
M- This place is not actually that old. It was built in the 30s.
N- I was just giving a lecture on that.
M- Yeah, what was it about?
N- Regular stuff. I can't remember.
M- You might want to pay more attention. You're doing a new thing at a new country. It's ok if things feel overwhelming. It will take time to adapt, you're learning.
N- I gues… Where should we go?
M- I found him in a secret room, past his lab.
They go to the basement, where the lab is. It's full of vials, strange contraptions, plants and machinery.
N- How did you figure it out?
M- Haliatus Mycellium. We were studying the technology together. I realize that this here looks like a breathing conch.
Natalia immediately recognizes the same one.
N- Wait a minute. He gave me something just like that!
M- What?
N- This old book, like a grimoire. It reveals itself when I breathe into the conch.
M- But he wasn't supposed to have figured it out yet.
N- Let me show it to you when we're back home.
M- Okay. Let me show you the room past this. Just as the breath conch can be used to create the structures, it can also be destroyed. You just need to put pressure, let go, and press again.
He does this against a wall and it comes undone. Reveals a door. In the next room, there is a chair and many annotations on walls and boards.
M- This is where I found him. I wasn't sure what he was getting up to, so I said I found him in the main lab. That he was hunched over and that's why I didn't find him at first.
N- So that's why you're so sure.
M- Nobody could've found him here. I thought I was the only one who knew about this technology…I helped make it seem like suicide because I didn't see any other possibilty.
N- He sent the book himself, so I don't know if anyone else knows.
M- Still.
N- How did he do it?
M- Mycellium again. They grew inside his body. It's a very peaceful way to go. The spores make you sleepy, taking all the oxygen. Then they ate into his internal organs.
N- Could it have been an accident?
M- No, you need to feed the spores. And for them to grow, you need to undergo a cleansing. This was a ritual death.

They feel like someone might be watching them. Or it might just be the oppresive feel of the room. They decide to leave.

The second class

She started the lecture like she did the first time. But she wondered about the applause. She didn't want to let the intrusive thoughts pop in, but perhaps she could be more present to learn about her students. She was going to be doing this for the upcoming months, so perhaps collecting some more data and understanding her students could be beneficial.
She didn't rely on the override this time. The trusted herself to focus on the concepts and the notes she has studied.
She started noticing something odd…the students were constantly tapping at their desk with their fingers. She carried on.
In the middle of a sentece, 3 students started laughing out of nowhere. She stopped and they shut up. The tapping intensified. Perhaps this was a way in which the younger generation was dealing with stress. After all, they were teenagers undergoing puberty and new to the 10th grade. She was about to remember what it must've been like for her, but her training stopped her on the spot. "This could trigger an episode". She knew by now that reflecting on experienes as old as this, could have some very bad side effects. And she wasn't going to let her perfect streak end. So she composed herself and carried on.

By the end of the lecture, she thanked her class…and then, frantic tapping on the desks, she started feeling anxious, but then…the clapping began. First one student, then another. The whole class joined in, one stood up, then another. A whole classroom was doing a standing ovation for her and she felt humbled and elated at the same time. She thanked them all with a smile and then noticed a girl in the corner looking irritable.

N- Thank you, thank you. Excuse me, miss. Is there something that didn't land well?

The girl looked around to make sure she was being addressed. "No, no. 2030s. Chaos and corporations booming. I got it all. No notes." She said, withdrawing back into her hoodie after she was done. There was more tapping on the desks and snickering. Natalia found this odd.

N- Ok, let me know if you have any questions.

While everyone was leaving, she approached the girl and asked.

N- Is everything ok? I noticed you looked a little…off.
Girl- What?

One of the students shoved past them, quickly saying "sorry, miss prefect". The girl looked sad.

N- Hey, I mean it.
Girl- Wow, teacher of the year. I can't believe professor Leon took so long to make way for you.

She pushed past Natalia and left the classroom. There was something she was missing here.

The third class

N- …and then, we defeated the AI god with nothing but human ingenuity and smarts.
She then allowed the mess to rise again and she noticed everyone was looking at her, but not listening to her. The students were tapping at their desks madly now. She started feeling uncomfortable, so she tried to disengage. But before that, she noticed the girl next to the window was completely out of it. She tried to capture her attention.
N- Does anyone know why those years are known as the Years of the Hum?
Complete silence.
N- Over by the window, miss…?
The girl looked scared and panicked. She took a moment to compose herself, looked around and instantly her face went back to being unfriendly.
P- Paloma. And the question was?

She heard snickering and held laughters all around the classroom. Clearly something was going on…

N- "Years of the Hum". Do you know why they was called that? A clue, perhaps, is to think about the noise you would hear with all that construction going on.
P- I don't know. Maybe because they were so boring?
N- Excuse me?
P- Who cares what they called it? That was so long ago. Woop, woop. We killed the bad AI. We weren't even alive back then.
N- But your parents probably were, imagine the raminifactions of--
P- So what? Are you going to lecture us about the ramification of every single event in history? Did you know we could be doing actual things with our time here? Instead of being stuck inside listening to you.

The tapping and the snickering grew. Natalia became upset.

N- Could you stop it with the tapping?? What is going on???

One of the kids raised his hand and looked at Paloma. "Ooh, miss prefect, you better get on with stopping that unruly behavior, no?". Everyone started laughing, and the added tapping became cacophonous.

Natalia quickly became overwhelmed. She realiez they had always been laughing. The clapping, the standing ovation. They had all been laughing at her…

N- That is enough for today. Class dismissed.

She grabbed her briefcase in one hand and the notes in the other, she walked calmly to the door, and sprinted away as soon as she crossed the frame. She could hear boisterous laughs behind her. The students on the hall joined in as they saw a teacher crying and running away from her class.

Paloma comforts her

She went to the library, but there were too many kids there, so she went to the stairs next to it, where there was nobody. She couldn't cry anymore, she was just craddling her legs, feeling this terrible wrangling in her stomach. She knew that was probably shame, and the memories of her childhood started flooding in.
Her childhood had never been like that. She grew up with supportive friends. It would be whimsical and fun, never…painful. Her training did not help, other than to stop her from having a full on panic attack. She felt so stupid. A therapist who couldn't give a lecture to highschool students or even calm down after the fact.
She heard some foosteps coming down the stairs toward her, and she quickly composed herself as best she could. Monty must've heard all the ruckus and gone looking for her, but how did he find her?

— I'm sorry…

A smaller body sat down next to her. Her arms folded over her legs.

— I thought it would help me. Maybe if I said what everyone was thinking…

Natalia turned around to find the girl with curly brown hair.

— It would stop them from picking on me.

Natalia wasn't sure what to make of this girl. Her instinct was to go back to the teacher persona, but she thought of what Monty said. Maybe this was a new opportunity.
N- Why…do they pick on you?
P- I don't know. They're probably too lame to know why themselves. [TODO: Change to add bit about the earbud] But…when you went all monotone into your robot mode, I understood that. You were no longer messy, just delivering fact after fact. I like this guy you were talking about, even if he's like a hundred years old.
N- Two hundred, actually.
P- Ah, who cares. He was still spitting fire.
N- I guess he was. I'm sorry they pick on you…
P- Paloma.
N- Nice to meet you, I'm Natalia. Have you tried asking them why?
P- Asking them why I'm not normal? Actually, I have and I think that's part of the problem. Turns out if you ask people how to be normal, they tell you anything but. They're all lame, though.
N- Perhaps…they know…they just put it all on you. Come. What's your next class? Actually, let's do it tomorrow. What's your first class tomorrow?

The social dynamics class

They both walked over to History class. Natalia called the teacher out for a minute and asked if she could take over. The teacher was surprised, but relieved to not have to deal with teenagers for an hour.
Paloma and Natalia went in.

N- Hello again, I'll be your Psychology teacher for the day.
Student- The "pet" brought a substitute for the day!
Student2- The pet found a pet of her own!
N- Paloma, take a seat. Now, tell me, young man, what's your name?
Student1- Your mama

The class erupted in laughter.

N- See, the reason I'm asking is because people are looking at you. They're following your cue. But you're not their leader.

Everyone started laughing even harder.

Student1- Broo, she's going to start calling us a pack soon!
Student2- You're a bonobo, aren't you?

N- The reason I say that is because you're looking at everyone else after you make a joke. You're looking for approval. Now, the laughter is exaggerated. Nobody is laughing geniunely. But one person is not laughing, he is looking at me intently, not at others. And eveyone is looking at him every once in a while. Young man, what is this one's name?

Serious student- That's Victor.

N- And we found the leader.

The uproar stopped immediately. They all looked at Natalia like she had just played a magic trick on them.

Serious student- Why do you assume they need to have a leader?
N- I don't assume. I observe. My question now is, why do you have so much power over the group? You are correct to question if a group needs a leader. It's a mechanism of group dynamics that arises after a certain threshold. Especially under chaos. The stronger the persona that leader is potraying, the stronger the chaos they're trying to hold down. So why is there chaos?

Everyone kept silent. The student glared at Natalia with a gaze of frozen fire.

N- Let's see now…how do you dismantle the power of the leader? …Victor?
V- I…I don't know.
N- Are you willing to be the leader?
V- Wha---no!
N- Let's try a little experiment. Let's see if I can make…that student over there tell me his name, and Victor over here…into the new leader.

Natalia cracked her knuckles and smiled at the stupefied crowd.

N- Victor, who is sitting behind you?
V- Rina and Delia.
N- Rina, sit next to Victor.

The girl Rina moved her chair as asked.

N- I'm now recognized as an orchestrator. Victor gave me a role within your group and I, in turn, gave him a new one. He can now speak for the whole group. But he's not the leader, yet. Delia, sit next to Paloma.
D- What! No!!

Paloma seemed to be hurt by the comment for a moment, then she laughed it off.

N- Victor, sit between Delia and Paloma.

Victor moved his desk without any hesitation. Rina followed him with her gaze and scooched closer to him, but also closer to Delia. The serious student protested.

SerStu- This is ridiculous! An Austin tech babe is going to come tell us how to sit in our class! You're going to be packing your bags before the day is over. The pet is going back to the pet store!

Half the class laughed, a nervous laughter. Victor and the others did not laugh.

N- You see, I could keep adding students to Victor's group, but that wouldn't make him the leader. You're still the leader in everyone's eyes. So how do you deal with that? I need to challenge and beat you--or rather the new leader. The chaos in the group is both spreading and subsiding. New roles are giving others a way to interact with the new order.

She says as one of the students scoots closer to Victor's island.

So who will beat you? Not me. Paloma.

Everyone shot their eyes at Paloma, but she was taken aback more than anyone else.

N- Paloma, give Victor your xylophone, and tell him how to make a different noise.

She did and then Natalia proceeded to instruct Victor to make the noise every time the serious student deflected. Then she told Delia to get up if Victor ever told a lie or made a mistake. The student began an angry tirade at Natalia and Victory kept hokning and honking the instrument, but Delia did not get up. When the student started to become infuriated, two others next to him got up and one of themsaid

— Stop it! This is not how a teacher should behave!
— Is he deflecting, Victor?

Victor sounded the horn.
N- What is his name?
V- Ignacio.

He said in an icy way, knowing he now held the power to make the other student sit down.
N- And what is the other student's name, paloma?
P- That is Loki. Also known as Adal.

Natalia smiled knowing she had won. She instructed Victor to tell the student to tell her his name. He complied: Shaggy was his name.
What Natalia learned through the exercise was that, not only she could see the dynamics, but also that there were a mix of Returners and Remainers, or rather, two Remainers: Shaggy and Paloma. By controlling Paloma, Shaggy was avoiding being made of fun himself.

The candid talk in the classroom

After a while, the class had settled and everyone was sitting in a circle, talking.
N- So all of you are Returners, except for Shaggy and Paloma?
V- Yes, I was in the "sea" for 2 years. From 8 to 10.
N- And do you consider yourself 15 or 13 years old?
V- Everyone says I'm 15. I've learned how to not fail the classes and Shaggy is the one who helps us pass the classes.
N- I see…
Delia- He also knows more about life. He's normally patient and kind with us. He's just quiet.
N- Shaggy, what's it like being a Remainer for you?
S- There used to be very few of us, so it's been hard to adapt to so many people. That's why my group are my people. They know I have their back and they have mine.
N- I imagine you miss the peace and quiet.
S- I also miss dealing with my own shit. Most of the Returners came back eager to control us. This school used to be very free, you would make your own choices. Now you need to follow so many shitty rules…
Delia talked about how she would be 12-years-old. She's been struggling with her classes but her parents expect much of her, since they came back to find their house had been damaged by natural catastrophe.
Natalia shared the way things were done in Austin. She talked about the advanced programs that you would take in simulators from the time of the 39ers.
N- We've salvaged a lot of technology. There are courses you can take on your own. We use this learning system where you learn deeply about a single subject for a month. You can reach college-level in a couple years. Maybe we should try it here.
S- I don't know Ms. N, most of the kids here just wish they could play more often. Yeah, it would be nice to not feel behind, but…the problem is they already feel like they had to grow up too fast. What are we going to do if we're college-level?
N- Get a job at a good company, of course! Or even better, start your own company and rebuild this place according to your own vision?
D- I don't know…I guess if I can take care of my parents that way…
P- What was it like for you? You said you're also a Returner? You don't…remember anything?
N- I was in the Yosemite-C for nearly 10 years. I uploaded at 22 and came out at 32…with no memories whatsover of what happened in there. But I adjusted quickly. I think you could adjust quickly too!
P- What if we don't want to adjust?
N- I don't know if we have much of a choice…think about it. I could bring some of the pads from Austin on my next trip here and you would be ahead of your peers by years in no time. I could even help you get a scholarship for college. UT is one of the best in the Federation.

Everyone was quiet, but Natalia could feel that the students had entrusted her with something other teachers did not get to get much of a glimpse into. Delia started talking when someone interrupted her with a knock on the door. It was the director she had spoken to earlier, Ms. Lomeli Mendez.

L- Natalia. We need to talk. Bring your stuff. And no need to say goodbye.

At the Principal's Office

L- You hijacked another teacher's class because your feelings were hurt, and then you conducted a psychological experiment on children?!
N- It was necessary, these kids, most of them are Returned who are missing as much as 3 or 4 years! Their gaps in academic knoweldge.
L- Those gaps are something we're working hard to fix! But we need to do it with structure and based on what works!
N- I know, trust me, I was trying--
L- No, you were trying to cater to your own ego! You Austinites are all the same, you feel like you're better when we're the ones working hard to fix what you broke. You've displayed exceptional recklessness. I cannot abide this even if you were highly recommended by Leon. We're all mourning his loss, but the best way to do so is to keep going. And don't tell me about gaps in their knowledge. Most of the teachers here are Returners who still have their knowledge intact, blessedly. You have no idea the havoc that those 8 years caused here.
N- It was 10 for me, of course I know!
L- But you had the resources to be back on your feet before you felt what it was like to truly be lacking…this institution has stood tall for more than 100 years! I won't let you ruin it! We actually believed in the promise, you know…? You are dismissed with a suspension. I only have to do this with students, but take a week off, Natalia. Think about what you've done and if you want to play by the rules here, or if I should send you packing back to--

A womp womp noise could be heard from all around the room.
L- What was that? Anyways, you should be grateful I don't take more of a disciplinary action. But since you like History so much. You'll now be teaching both Philosophy and History until further notice.

A fanfare noise could be heard. Natalia laughed to herself, knowing who it was coming from, but discreetly.

L- See? This is a zoo! Anyways, you're dismissed.

Natalia left to find Paloma waiting for her outside by the stairs to the courtyard.
N- I knew it was you! You could've gotten me in more trouble.
P- Nah, this is how I usually get out of trouble. She gets paranoid and still hasn't figured out it's me.
N- What is that, anyways?
P- It's my "bebop". It's like a noise disruptor. The police used to use it to rattle criminals!
N- Well, thank you.
P- I should thank you. Your class was the first time philosophy made sense to me. It's always so much fluff and this and that. I liked that you were a straight shooter. I like your "robot mode". And that thing you did with the classroom. You did well, Ms. N, you did well. Now, any chance you could work your mumbo jumbo for me?
N- You didn't notice it, but by reflecting their wounds at them and helping them start work on them, they should stop proyecting them to you. They were actually quite intimidated by you, you know.
P- As they should! Maybe you should work your magic so they fear me next time!
N- Ha. Maybe.

He felt everything. Every incision, every inch of the doctor's fingers underneath his skin. He didn't take anything to soften the pain, he liked being awake for this. The procedure used to make him want to pass out, but he could now withstand the writhing burn near his spine. He still wanted to die during the procedure, though. Which is why he had to be awake.

— We're done for today, sir. I would recommend that you take some days to rest before working out, or else we'll have to do this again.
— It won't be a problem this time, Thompinks.

The doctor sighed and walked away.

— You know where to find me, sir. Just make sure you stay well hydrated.
— That I can do.

Arcturus laid on the operating table for some half an hour while his wounds healed. He felt so powerful, a wound like this would take weeks or months to fully heal, but now he could be up and running in mere minutes. His technology was working well. HIS technology.

His mind wandered for a brief second and everything around him melted away. The dimly lit operating room turned into a red landscape that surrounded him and turned like he was inside a twister, with no distinction between left and right.

— Stop it.

The spinning stopped and he was back in the headquarters of Apex Technologies. He got up and dressed slowly but with intention. He was wearing a tight-fitting plum suit with reflecting patterns that made the illusion of a solar flare dancing on the fabric. The technology did not get a chance to become popular in the 2030s, but he was hoping to change that now.

He got up and started hobbling towards the exit, trying his best to regain his pace. By the time he got to his office, he was walking upright and with synchronized arms and steps. He was back in control.
He glanced at the corner of his office and saw the gargoyle statue overseeing the whole room.
He sat down and started working without turning his luminescent gaze again. He spoke.

— I saw the red waste again. We need to work harder.

His speech seemed aimed at the gargoyle, who made no effort to reply back. He tapped a button on the screen in front of him.

— What news of the earthworm?

A voice popped up from his computer.

— The police has confirmed the death of Leon Diaz-Abbatini. They have ruled it a suicide and no further investigation is being conducted.
— Of course. And where did they find him?
— A man named Raul Montante, his assistant, found him in the Tepoztlan hacienda. He did not report much about the scene, but the scene was discribed as "lamentable".
— An earthworm through and through. The question is…did he burrow underground?
— There is no record of Leon Diaz-Abbatini burrowing underground or hiding in any holes.

Arcturus sighed. It can only be so good for now. He turned the terminal off.

— What do you think? Is it just a husk or is he really…

A notification popped up on his screen. He played it.

— An employee was sighted leaving on the train to Mexico two weeks ago, the day the body was discovered.
— One of ours??
— Yes, Natalia M. Senior Cognitive Psychologist. ID R-1029. Do you want me to play the feed?
— Do it.

Arcturus saw the long-haired, brown woman boarding the train with a small suitcase and a satchel on her. He did not recognize one of the many employees, especially of that department. But he knew immediately: Leon's schemes were starting to unfold.

— Call the clean up guy. I have a project for him.

In the classroom — …And so, the AI God was defeated by the bravery and ingengenuity of humankind.

The kids all looked at Natalia with incredulous faces, like they were about to burst out laughing. Some of them still communicated with each others with their hands, but soon stopped.

— I know, I know.
— See? This is why we don't learn anything. All those history files are full of ridiculous stories like that. They either paint the past like this utopia where everything was going well or skip any of the interesting details. If everything was going swimmingly, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.

In the past two weeks, Natalia had gotten to know her class much better. Paloma had regained her confidence and would often go into tirades against the lessons, to the chagrin of some of her classmates. But they were all more engaged and she was trying to find ways to improve the lessons.

— It's true. The lessons do focus more on recounting the events with a…particular perspective.
— What are we supposed to do with that? "Don't build an evil AI god"? Everyone knows how dangerous AI can be. The people of the ancient times sometimes seem painfully…stupid? Careless?
— Well, that wasn't SO long ago. I was alive when Oculus was around, even if just a child. Leon would be able to tell you all the details.

She felt a pain in her chest. No he couldn't, not anymore.

— Your professor Leon…

She corrected herself.

— All we know, all we need to know, is that your generation left the world as it is now. It's up to us to clean up your mess now. And the best way is probably to NOT do what you did.
— Yeah, you clearly cared more about documenting everything that was going on than about doing something about it.
— Documenting was seen as doing something.
— And see where it got you.
— They're right. We should be teaching the classes, not the Returners.

Natalia didn't take an issue with that anymore. She understood the kids were rightfully upset and would often paint with broad strokes. But she saw an opportunity.

— Perhaps…why don't you teach the class?

The room fell silent.

— I am a Returner. I missed 10 years of this world. I've read many records of it, of course, but you were here for most of it. What was it like?

She saw some jaws drop. One of the kids made the hand gesture for asking to be woken up.
Paloma spoke first.

— Is this a trap?
— How could it be a trap???
— All the teachers are always telling us about all the things we need to learn, but they never have anything useful to say. If we could skip class…
— I never said anything about skipping class.
— Oh…
— Wait, though. …What would you do if you could skip class?

The classroom erupted into a cacophony of boisterous ideas. Natalia struggled to focus. Ignacio wanted to go to the mountains, Daniela wanted to paint, Paloma unsurprisingly started listing all her technology projects.

— How about we try that? Next class, we start taking turns presenting about what you're all interested in?

There was a noticeable deflation in the in the room. She, once again, said the wrong thing, and, once again, had no idea why.

— That's not what you had in mind?
— Well, no offense, Miss Natalia. But…this place is so boring.
— I can't have you skipping class. Principal Lopez would find out immediately. And we do have to cover the syllabus.

The energy stayed at ground level. Before long, the bell rang and Natalia stood while everyone left. Everyone, except, unsurprisingly, Paloma.

— I'm sorry, I can't just let you guys do anything you want…
— Nobody ever does…we'll just keep doing the mind-numbing readings until the world burns down…

Paloma packed her bag and left, making a point of how she was dragging her feet. Natalia knew by now they were making a show of their disappointment because they trusted her. They would be back full of excitement by next class, but she needed to be careful not to lose control of the classroom the way things were going.
Unless…she thought a little longer about what they were saying. These kids did indeed know more about the world in the last 15 years than she did. How did she know that what she was teaching them was accurate or even relevant?

She kept pondering the question all the way back to the house. It was the first time she was able to be lost in thought on the way back, she had finally adapted enough to know her way back, and she was now present enough to allow her mind to wander.
She thought of the last 5 years. Of the lightspeed pace of waking up and having to catch up on the missing 10 years of her life, how everything felt just as fast-paced as before that, when everyone was preparing for the Yosemite-C.

It had been a while since she had been able to think of the past freely, not with a goal in mind, and she decided to bask in it. She thought of her found family, she thought of calling her dad, but it was not Thursday. She thought of her biological mother and the Days of the Hum. She had been repressing all those memories, like…
She knew immediately what she would be doing if she didn't have to teach the lectures. And she went ahead and did it.

---

The Hacienda
It was the first time she was back since the time with Monty. The Hacienda looked like nobody had lived there in decades, not in days. There was something very homely about it, though. She made her way to the basement, back to the lab.
She allowed herself to take it in, this time. An indescribable force pressed all around her chest, threatening to break her, but she focused on her breathing and closed her eyes. She steeled her fists and firmly planted her feet. She rooted herself in the moment and managed to avoid a TDS episode. Clearly there was more to this than just Leon's passing, but she needed to know…why?
She started walking around the lab, inspecting the many workstations and trinkets on the tables. This is where Leon's team must've worked many years ago, Monty among them.
She imagined what it would've been like to be a part of that team, instead of the Austin team. She closed her eyes and…felt like she was being watched.

— Hello???

The feeling stopped. All the feelings stopped. She could only notice the racing of her heart, like there was a big surprise around the corner. And so she decided to dig a little further.
She found one of Leon's journals on a table. He always preferred to write his thoughts by hand. But these thoughts…

— "It is all meaningless", "dirt upon dirt upon dirt", "I wish I could stop existing already".

Her chest tightened. She remembered her mentor being prone to episodes of depression, but all these notes…they were pages upon pages describing a miserable state of mind.

— It seems Monty was right, it was suicide…

Her gut immediately told her otherwise. "The binder".
She thought of the binder she had left in the satchel the day she arrived. And that strange book that came out of nowhere. She hadn't given it any thought in the past two weeks. She turned and ran for the door, that's when she heard a ruffling in the distance. She was being watched. She looked around the room but found no one. But she was sure of it…the Hacienda held a secret and whatever the answer, the key was hidden in the binder.

---

The Codex

Back at the house, she looked for the binder everywhere with no luck. Had she misplaced it? Did she leave it in the train? Did Miss Paola move it while cleaning?
She looked frantically until she decided to ask Miss Paola.

— I haven't seen it. But you'd do well to clean up that room more often.

She tried to go to sleep and ask Monty in the morning, he wasn't back yet. She started wondering if what she saw was real…the book manifesting out of thin air--no, growing into being. And the words Leon left behind…he couldn't have done it. He wouldn't have. Not if he specifically brought her to Cuernavaca. Was it a call for help? Monty was convinced it was a sick joke from a sick man…but that is not the man Natalia knew.

Granted, much of the work they did together was during the starting phase of the Yosemite-C. Natalia must've been 20 years old, so 7--17 years ago. Because of the time dilation in the YC, the memories are blurry. They were some of the few people who would go in and out. But the Leon she remembered…he was hopeful. He was kind. She hadn't thought of that time in so long…it was so painful. Was that what broke him? Was the failure of the Yosemite Continuum project what turned Leon into a bitter and resentful person? Was it something that happened inside the YC?
"Understand what I cannot, go where I will not, forgive whom I could not.".

— What was it that you couldn't do, Leon? And why me, all the way from Austin? You had so many apprentices working under you…I was surprised you remembered me.

But a man who could not forgive…that is a man who remembers. A man who remembers all too well.

The next day, she rushed to ask Monty before they left for school.

— Ah, the binder? Yes, I have it. You left it the day you arrived and I figured you didn't need any more reminders of that man. Or whatever cruel game he was playing on you. I left it in the teacher's lounge.

That is all she needed. She snagged the binder off of Monty's hands and thanked him. He seemed taken aback by her newfound excitement.
It was time for her class and she had a new show-and-tell planned.

— So I can't take you out of the classroom…but what if I bring things to you?
— What kinds of things.
— Mysteries.

She got the binder out along with the mysterious conch. The kids feigned disinterest, but they were all looking at her and the items she put down in the middle of the circle.

— You said the lessons didn't have anything new to teach you and that you didn't know what you could do with it. So how about a puzzle? This binder was the thing that brought me to Cuernavaca from Austin. It was left behind by your Professor Leon. As far as I know, it's the last thing he left us.

The wonder was palpable. All the students were leaning in, as if a relic was laid in front of them. She knew it: The students also knew a different side of Leon. He couldn't have been that twisted man Monty described.
Paloma, just as Natalia expected, was the first to leap forward.

— So these are just standard pages.

She flipped through the binder, uninterested in its contents.

— But this is a sea conch. I've seen many of them, but we're nowhere near a beach. Why leave a conch shell behind?
— You tell me.

Other students started joining in. Some looked towards Natalia as if to ask for permission.

— You can take the pages out, just be careful with them. And look at them in groups of 2 to 4.

The students regrouped on the floor and stared studying the pages, they would swap pages when they were done and move between the groups. Paloma was with two other students, describing the physical characteristics of the conch and all the details she knew about them. The students were more interested in her explanations than the actual object.

— These notes…they seem to be detailing the advancement of the Temporary Dislocation Syndrome. And how it's not as common in Cuernavaca.
— Tha'ts what I was thinking.
— But these other notes are talking about the climate catastrophe. They detail reforestation efforts, communities that have sprung up and found ways to be resilient.

Natalia hadn't even looked at that section.

— And here…it talks about the billions that are still sleeping. It talks about the communities that have been torn apart. It says a bunch of things about if the Yosemite-C is still running and if…they can still be considered to be alive.

The room fell silent. Everyone knew of those left behind, but would never talk about it. If the wave of the Returned wasn't a big enough of a shock to their livelihood, their food stocks, their homes, the trauma they had processed…roughly 2 billion people were estimated to still be sleeping in the pods. "Sleeping", hoping they would some day wake up.
And if they did, would they be able to welcome them in? Or would it take down the fragile ecosystem they were just beginning to build with the Returned?

— Do you…have people who are sleeping?

The student nodded. There were tears welling up in her eyes.

— My mom.
— "My brother". Another said.
— Grandpa.

Everyone seemed to have someone or know somebody close to them that was sleeping. For years they had feared, they had hoped, that those missing would wake up like Natalia and the others did. But they had not. And they had no way of bringing them back with their current understanding of the technology, not without risking a shock to their nervous system that was likely to kill them. But the efforts to bring them back were stalled almost everywhere. Waking some of them up would open the floodgates that were sure to overwhelm communities across the world. Those sleeping were the best kept secret.

— Well, I don't. And I think they should stay there.

Everyone looked at Paloma in disbelief. She was prone to saying things that shocked people, but this was uncharacteristically cold of her.

— People…come back wrong. No offense, Tich. You're the first person not to be some weird automaton. Although you definitely were at first. Weird? That still.
— So perhaps others could return to normal too.
— Nah, don't think so. And more importantly, I think I figured out this conch thing.
— I think so too, I found a note here that says--
— Nah, hold it, Shoshanna. I'm about to make magic happen.

She impishly rubbed her hands together, brought the conch to her mouth and blew on it.
Just like before, the conch started glowing and some vines started to grow from the back. Shoshanna quickly rose to lower the blinds with a smirk on her face, and left the classroom in darkness save for the dim light the conch and the vines were emitting.
The light could be seen in the eyes of every single one of the students as the same book from before materialized in front of them.
Palome stood with a cocky expression as she now held the book in one hand and the conch on the other.

— Mycellium overgrowth. It takes the breath, the haliatus or whatever, and feeds some fungus that are laid dormant inside the conch. They were probably bio-engineered to produce this book-like growth. It's very…complicated, if you ask me.

No one else was talking. It really was like magic.

— You already knew???
— I know it's possible and being done in some places. Professor Leon told us about his research. I doubt he made this on his own. I also doubt he was able to use it much. Because…of his elbow problem.

She gestured by raising her elbow and her hand towards her mouth.

— What's in it?!

Ignacio asked Natalia.

— Sadly, I don't know. The pages are all blank.

Everyone rushed to open it and examine the book. They would take turns to flip, smell, and even taste the pages. Paloma stepped back, proud of her work.

— Good trick, Tich. I have to say, I disrespect you a little bit less.
— I realized you were right. You do know more about some things than I do. But I know a whole lot of others.
— We'll see for how long. Should we meet up at the lab after school?
— What? You know about the lab?
— I put a tracking device on you on the first day of class. I hope you don't mind. I do it with every teacher. They only work for like 20 meters or so, but I was curious yesterday, so I followed you to the Hacienda.
— But that is in Tepoztlan, you must've had to ride the tram with me.
— You are SO oblivious. Most teachers get rid of the bug by day 2.
— So you were the presence I was feeling…
— You were feeling a presence? Maybe I'm not so interested after all. Good luck, Tich.

But Paloma was there with her on the tram, sitting at the other end, reading one of her mangas. Natalia was truly inmersed in her thoughts to not have noticed.
They got to the lab in the Hacienda and this time, Paloma was free to peruse and look around as she pleased.

— Check it out! This place is all rubbish!
— There's a lot of valuable things here, we just need to look around.
— "I wish I could just stop existing, even if just for a moment". Really valuable stuff there, Tich. It feels like we're raiding the room of one of my classmates.

Some of Leon's notes were…indeed very dramatic. But she knew there had to be more here.

— Oh, look at this. A fake wall.
— Fake???
— It's…the same mycellium trick. Only different. You can have mycellium take a number of different properties. This right here looks surprisingly similar to the material of the walls, but it feels different. See? This is part is sleek and this part is grainy. Now we just need to find out how to open it. Do you have the codex?
— The…conch?
— Yes, yes.

Paloma blew into the conch and the book manifested again. It would vanish after a couple minutes if not interacted with or if the connection to the conch was severed.. Or wilt, more than vanish.

— We need to be careful not to use it too much. It takes a lot of energy for those poor mushrooms to create something this big again and again. Did the professor leave anyhing for you to feed them with?
— The conch came with this…container.
— We'll need some agar to fill it back up. No biggie. Now…let's see if this works.

She pressed the book against the wall, and the wall started to come undone as bits and pieces of it separated themselves and moved away from where the book had touched them.

— This is beyond my paygrade. Something useful there for you to teach me, Tich. But I think the mycellium in the wall don't like the type of mycellium in the book or something. I was hoping it would work.

They moved inside the newly opened room, which was completely dark. They tried to make their way around it. They stumbled upon a wall but Natalia was no longer sure which were real and which weren't.

— How big could this place be?
— I doubt the lab stretches on for much longer. I don't think Professor Leon could've built a whole compound underneath the Hacienda.
— We need some light.
— Maybe we don't.

She opened the book to the single page with the codex-like image and set it on the ground. It started glowing and another illustration bled around the second page. Natalia moved closer to get a better look.
"Compakins" the page read. It showed a multitude of beasts and some sort of animals around the pages. Quite fantastical, they reminded her of the alebrijes that you could find in many stores around Cuernavaca. Animals or mixtures of animals that were carved out of wood and painted with colorful palettes and patterns. The page was quite detailed and lively, despite being blank a minute earlier.

— What's a compakin???

Natalia flipped the page over, only to find the next one already had an illustration on it.

— "Constantino Milagro Codice del Sol". That's a mouthful.

The page showed some sort of tiny crocodile with a flower on its back. It looked friendly, Natalia felt a warm feeling inside her. Like she was thinking of an old friend.

— This…looks familiar. The term "compakin", I've heard it before…

But where? The name, the image…everything felt so familiar, so nostalgic. She closed her eyes to try and focus…and the TDS took over her.

She was floating on what she expected to be the red wasteland, but it wasn't. She was here. Floating inside the lab, holding the codex where her hands should be. She could feel it guiding her somewhere…back, so she moved out of the room. She didn't have to move her body, there was no body to move, but she could feel herself floating around, she could feel the codex.
And she could see the lab as it once was. Not the abandoned mess it was today, but pristine and working. There were tubes filled with colorful liquids and the walls were painted over.
She followed her instinct and reached the room where they had found Leon's body. She moved past it. There was a wall that was now open and she moved without issue to find a spaceous room…with a spring in the middle. There were drawings and symbols around it. She floated closer and she saw something under the water. Some…egg, it looked like. She approached it and tried to drop the codex to inspect it, but couldn't, so she moved the codex in contact with the egg and--

She opened her eyes to find herself back in the dark room. Her body with her once again, and Paloma with a dumbfounded expression next to her. The egg--it was on her hands, bigger than a bowling ball, the book nowhere to be found.

— It just…turned into an egg.

Caring for the egg montage

For the last week, Natalia and Paloma had been taking care of the egg. The codex revealed a new page detailing the care necessary. Paloma reacted annoyed when she found out it required…more agar. Other than that, it required constant body heat so Natalia would sleep beside it and she would bring it to class. All the students were fascinated by the discovery and would like to imagine what a compakin would mean. They didn't adhere to the image in the codex and started brainstorming different creatures that it could become. They had a painting and drawing sesison where one drew a goat with wings, another painted a cat with a scarf, and another student envisioned an alien with a tophat. Another one painted a small blue fox that slept on the moon. They were having a great time with the egg, and it quickly became like the class mascot. Everyone would take turns caring for it, and Natalia felt safe, knowing how much they cared for it. As the days passed, she felt closer to it and could swear she could feel movement from inside the egg. Whenever someone would ask, she'd say it's a science project for the kids. Nobody seemed to mind that was nowhere close to her given subject. The egg started out very small, almost could fit inside of Natalia's cupped hands. But part of caring for it meant slabbing pieces of newspaper with agar and plastering them around it until they hardened. It seemed to be absorbing them and very quickly, it was growing to the size of a melon.

Then, one day, Natalia got a letter: We would like to invite you to the funeral of Leon Diaz-Abbatini To be organized by Apex Technologies and held in Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico.

Paloma- Should we go? Natalia- It seems to only be addressed to me… Paloma- It will be next week. Why would they have it so much later? And Apex…isn't that where you used to work? N- Yes. Why would they be organizing his funeral? I know Leon was an important man, part of the group that ended the AI god. Paloma- What was it, the Hidden or something? N- The Unseen, yes. Paloma- How he met Monty, right? N- Yes, and they also worked on the Yosemite-C together. How I came to know the two.

Later that night, Natalia struggled to fall asleep. She held the egg next to her like a comfort blanket. She was technically on leave from her job, she should probably keep a low profile. At the same time, she couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it. Could they know about the egg? Why did Leon leave behind such a thing for her? Knowing Apex Technologies and the CEO, letting them find out about the egg would be a terrible idea. It would be best to skip the funeral.

Planning to infiltrate the funeral

The next day at class. Paloma- We need to sneak into the funeral. The whole class seemed to agree. Natalia- I was just thinking the opposite. Ivan- They can't be up to any good. So many people have been coming in lately to arrange the funeral. It's a big event but why are no locals invited? Hotels are full and they seem to be looking for something. Even the school is overrun with outsiders. Paloma- They seem to be looking for something. And we know what that is. Girl- We can't let them have Codi!

Codi was the nickname they gave the egg, based on the elaborate name and "Codice". They had a point, but they would be exposing themselves further.

Natalia- Even if they are up to no good, we shouldn't get involved. Paloma- Not get involved, just make sure they stay out of the lab and keep their greasy hands off of Codi. Natalia- I've already arranged to stay home that day. Paloma- But they're interviewing people who were close to the Professor. Girl- It's true! They interviewed me and my parents yesterday. Natalia- I'll just hide the egg upstairs while they interview me. Ivan- The guide says it's critical to keep the egg in contact as it's closer to hatch. It's almost the 2 week mark! And it's been moving around more. Girl- We should hide the egg in the lab. That way we'll know they won't find it. Natalia- That sounds like a terrible idea… Paloma- Then how about we just hide it with you… Natalia- In the school? They seem to be already searching around here… Paloma- No, hide it in plain sight. Miss Sunday, how would you like to be pregnant?

Later on, at work with Monty.

Natalia- They kids want us to go into the funeral. Are you going? Monty- I was invited, but of course I'm not going. Natalia- They want me to hide inside the lab until the egg hatches, which should be soon… Monty- You can't always hide it inside your backpack. It will be easier once the compakin is born, but also harder to hide… Going into hiding in the one place they've already searched is not a bad idea. And I can help you sneak in during the main event. Natalia- The main event?? It sounds like the worst time to do it. Going in the day of the event sounds like exposing myself. Monty- I know the people they hired to inspect guests at the door. If I take their place, I can make sure you go in undetected. You'd just need to make your Natalia- What if they come asking questions today? Monty- You need to lay low until then. The Hacienda is crawling with their people right now. They clearly don't want anyone but guests and the staff near at the main event. Natalia- Paloma wants to pretend I'm pregntant… Monty- Why is that girl so smart? Natalia- Not you too…

Girl used her theater and makeup skills to help Natalia act the part. They added blush to her cheeks and prepared her walk and lines. Paloma helped craft a harness to hold the egg safely and add a layer to make it more realistic to the touch. Natalia worried she might look too pregnant, so they added a layer to make her look heavier. Since she had been going out with her backpack on the front, they probably couldn't tell she wasn't pregnant if they had spotted her already. The plan was to stay out of their sight until the event and look very pregnant until then.

At the Funeral

The day of the event, Paloma showed up as her doula. With a bag for everything for the egg and also for Natalia to stay for a day or two in the lab. While at the gate, something went wrong and Monty wasn't the one checking Natalia, but Paloma's temper took care of him not patting Natalia too much and giving extra considerations to the pregnant woman at the funeral. Natalia acted the part of the distraught mentee.

Inside the Hacienda, it was a veriable who-is-who of important people. Natalia wasn't sure of why they invited so many influential people, but this made her more alert. She even spotted Lena Pretova and her father, as well as Julia Valdesienne. These were the people who once controlled the world and who led it to its current state. And from the looks of it, they still enjoyed insulation from the harsh realities of the current state of it.

Once they were in, she needed to know why they were gathered here. Were they here to mourn Leon or something else?

Paloma came up with the idea of bringing a t-box with internet connection to find out who the important people were. Surprisingly, most had a public profile. Natalia would then use her social engineering skills to strike up a conversation and dig for information.

Natalia- I can't believe Leon is gone. He was like a father to me. Were you close to him too? Guest- By no means! He was responsible for offloading everyone from the Yosemite-C, haven't you heard? Natalia- I just can't believe he would do that! Guest- It's true. He wanted to doom us all to the same fate as him and all the other lowlife.

Natalia- An honor to meet you, sir. You were one of the Unseen? I wanted to thank you for your service. If we are here now, it's because of you. Unseen Member- Clearly. Natalia- Is it true you were the mastermind behind the plan to unseat Oculus? Unseen Membr- Of course. If it were up to Leon we would still be enslaved. That good-for-nothing man. Natalia- Why show up in that case? Unseen Member- I couldn't pass up the chance to reunite with my old group.

After getting a feel for the crowd, Natalia and Paloma regrouped near the entrance to the basement. She was feeling deflated.

Natalia- They all look down on him…they're so cruel. Paloma- Yeah…Professor Leon had a past, from what I reckon. But he was a great teacher. Very smart and caring. Natalia- I feel like that's the Leon I knew, but I just can't seem to remember much about him. All those memories were lost in the Yosemite-C. Like one third of my life… Paloma- It seems like we're in the clear, though.

Evading Arcturus

That's when Natalia saw those burning, yellow eyes. Across the room, she spotted Arcturus Valdesienne, the CEO of Apex Technologies. She had seen him many times on screens but only twice before in person. She remembered those piercing eyes and his cold gaze. And she felt a chill the moment their eyes met. Oh no, he knew who she was.

She immediately turned away and broke the line of sight, talking to another guest and trying to blend in. But she could feel him looking her way. Did he know who she was? She was only part of the HR department. There was no way…unless there had been reports of her whereabouts. Officially, she was taking care of a sick relative. She needed to avoid him at all costs.

Natalia- The man with the amber eyes. Do you know him? Paloma- That's THE asshole, right? Like top asshole in the sea of assholes? Natalia- Yes, basically. My boss as well. Paloma- Isn't that what I said? Natalia- Keep an eye on him. We need to get into the lab before he gets too close.

But he seemed locked on to them, following their every move. More so on Natalia, as Paloma could easily move unspotted.

Paloma- It's not working. He follows you with his eyes wherever you go. Natalia- We need a distraction…should you approach him? No… Make a scene? Paloma- That man is locked in. A bomb could go off and he wouldn't leave you out of sight. Natalia- Then…perhaps we do need a b-o-m-b. Paloma- Are you trying to make my day?! Natalia- A metaphorical one. An emotional b-o-m-b. Paloma- Of course that's where your mind would go to… Natalia- More effective and focused. Paloma- I was partial to the tranquilizer dart. But we're missing the dart and the tranquilizer. Plus those muscles look like they're made out of steel. Natalia- They might be. Paloma- Hooly…do you think I could rock a frame like that? Natalia- Focus. Do you know the other Valdesienne in here? Paloma- Ah-ha. Mummy lady with the metal arm? Natalia- That's the one. If he's an asshole, she's the literal mother of all assholes. Get her in that room over there. Paloma- How??? Natalia- Tell her I'm having complications. We'll hide in there and wait for the b-o-m-b to go off. Paloma- Roger

Julia Valdesienne was surprisingly receptive to Paloma's plea. They went into the room and hid in the closet. Soon enough, Julia showed up, slightly confused to find the room empty. Then Arcturus followed.

Julia vs. Arcturus

Julia felt a sudden chill. That was her son. In front of her. She had hoped to get a chance to speak to him, but didn't want to force him. She wasn't about to miss her opportunity. He quickly turned to leave when he saw her, but not before a dash of hatred passed through his face. She knew she had to get him to stay.

Julia- Congratulations. A- I don't need your praise. Goodbye, mother. Julia- Don't you want to know what for? A- I really don't care. Julia- You've kept Austin safe. I know how important that city is for you.

Arcturus stopped on his tracks. His body tensed up. She had been practicing for this moment for so many years. The chance to atone for her sins…

A- I really don't care what you have to say. J- I'm sorry.

Arcturus turned around

A- Sorry? Sorry for what? Getting all of us in this mess or for sabotaging my life's work? J- I'm sorry for not being there when you needed me. A- Ha. I've never needed you. If you haven't noticed, I've built myself up from the ground up. J- But you've kept the last name. Even if you're now Arcturus, you'll always be my Julius. A- How narcissistic can you be? "Julius". I bet all you ever wanted was for me to be one of your clones. Well, I'm stronger than you could've ever been. J- I know I was not a good mother to you, or to Aure-- A- Don't you dare say his name. You don't get to say his name. All you deserve is to be lost to history. Your name will be a synonym of hubris and evil, if you're lucky. I will remake the Valdesienne name and make it my own. J- Oh, Arcturus…you are so much like me… A- I am nothing like you! I am saving the world while you were dooming it for your frivolous desires, your purses and your skin creams. You and your buddies wanted to play God while I'm out here, breaking my back to save what's left of humanity. Why don't you die off already, you hag? J- "Hag"? If you're saving the world, why are you keeping Austin safe at the expense of the neighboring towns? A- I am trying. J- We don't try, we just do. A- Argggh!!

This was quickly getting out of hand. J- Look, I'm just trying to help you avoid making the same mistakes I made. A- If you want to help me, why don't you just die already?! The world would be better off. Everyone in this goddamn funeral would be better off. That's the only good thing Leon did in the last 10 years. Leaving us who are willing to do the hard work alone. J- You could learn a thing or two from him. He changed his ways and was one of the only people who knew the real you. A- There is no real me! This is the real me! And look at him. This is the face of the man who will fix TDS and get us back in the Yosemite-C. J- … A- Say it! Admit it. …No, it doesn't matter. I don't need your worthless approval. I am my own man and I have even decoded how to bring Fitz back. J- Bring him back??? A- Leon left me a gift. I overrode it with Fitz's AI. J- You can't be fool enough to mess with people's AI… A- He was a better leader than you ever were. He will help guide us into a new age. I've found the key Leon left behind. He was hiding it here, right under our noses the whole time. J- Julius, stop it. You are running straight into a cliff! Have you learned nothing from the past? A- I am learning everything. The only way to go on the right path is to understand what went wrong and on what we were already right. I will bring about a new age where humanity will be harder to kill. And there will be no place for people like you. J- … A- Goodbye, mother. I hope the next time I see you will be in your funeral casket.

Arcturus stormed off and Julia could feel her whole spirit breaking with only her metal limbs holding her together. She wanted to die. He was right…he was right about everything. No, she couldn't give in. She still had work left to do. She would die tomorrow, if she had to, today, she had to make sure her sins didn't keep spilling like oil in the sea. She had to meet with them. After she left the room, she stopped for a moment and glanced back. It was that doula girl and the pregnant woman.

The Unseen in the Lab

Paloma and Natalia rushed out of the room and walked as fast as they could while remaining unconspicious. There was a man playing the guitar in the courtyard and it seemed the even was dying down. It was the perfect opportunity. They followed Julia Valdesienne at a safe distance, she was going in the same direction as them. When they got to the lab's entrance, it was wide open and they could hear some faint voices in the distance. Natalia- Let's wait. Paloma- No, let's get closer and hide. I brought my amplifier.

They could clearly hear some familiar voices. It seemed to be Lena Petrova, Minister Sharma, Mr. Thorne, Dr. Kenji Tanaka…even Commander Rostova and Kaelo Al-Shabani were there. Natalia knew little about them, but what she knew was that these were all historic figures who would never gather in the same room. At least, not if they could help it. A gathering of the Unseen… And now, Julia Valdesienne was joining in.

The amplifier picked up the relative position of where everyone was standing, spread out around the lab. Lena spoke up first.

Lena- Picked it up clean. Rostova- We were here as soon as it happened. Within the day. Kenji- Within the day or…before the day? Rostova- We all know the drunkard finally had enough. It was a matter of time before it happened. He didn't leave anything of value behind. But we had to make sure. Thorne- Leon was a sad man, that is true. But he was also a traitor. If someone aided in his departure, I say they did the world a favor. Sharma- It's a shame he never found his way back into the light…these notes are downright depressing… Thorne- Serves him right. It's his fault we are out of the YC. It's his fault we can never go back… Rostova- As well as your boy's, right Julia? Julia- We can stay here and argue about whose fault it was, but things clearly aren't getting any better. We need to organize again. Thorne- Organize? We're not joining your little militia group, Julia. The Green Hands are just children playing in the mud. Sharma- What do you have in mind, Julia? Julia- We came together before againt a common foe. We can do it again. There is evidence of movements that are making progress. This area right here is a testament to that. Cuernavaca was hit hard by climate catastrophe and it's now thriving. Lena- Thriving? It's basically a small town with a farmer's market. We need to find bigger solutions for Seattle and Moscow. I was just talking with Arcturus about what he's done with the environmental shield there. And TDS symptoms seem to be decreasing in severity. Julia- It won't last. Did he tell you how much water it needs or about the effects on the surrounding communites? Kenji- You're too judgmental of the boy. Rostova- This is hell on Earth, Julia. Our only option is to go further with technology than we've done before. Julia- And build another Oculus?! Sharma- We cannot have that, Commander. I see the value in Julia's concerns and we should consider where out interests overlap. Don't you think so, Dr. Al-Shabani? Kaelo- Yes…I've been looking into what those communities have been doing. There is real potential in there. If we only could share our findings. Thorne- So collaborating with Leon, were you? Are you looking to follow in the traitor's footsteps? Kaelo- No, Mr. Thorne. But we know it's a matter of time before the rest of humanity wakes up from the YC. And we will not be able to manage that influx this time. Lena- Easy for you to say…TDS has been running rampant for us. Some people are going catatonic. We can't worry about what is coming when we're already overwhelmed by what is happening! We must worry about ourselves. Sharma- And what do you think, Ihor? Lena- My father and I are in complete agreement. If we don't save ourselves, there will be nothing left for us to save tomorrow. Julia- Leon was the first of us to pass away. We are all that's left of a time when the world was connected. If we don't capitalize on this chance, it will slip away from us. Rostova- Sweet words, Ms. Valdesienne. But the path forward is already laid out and you are too naive to see it. The Union will see that humanity has a future, even if it requires making some sacrifices. Sharma- It's true we've all experienced the benefits of technology, but we cannot forget that we've already exceeded our expected lifespan. And some of us like Dr. Al-Shabani do not enjoy the same benefits of our long-gone society. Thorne- If you people find a way to agree. Let me know. For now, I am out. Julia- You will all suffer the consequences. We will gather again for the next funeral, and then it might be too late. Kaelo- That we might. But there is no point in breaking what fraigle peace we've come to find today. Let us keep in touch, even if not as allies. Sharma- Well said, Dr. Kenji- Cough. I have other matters to attend to. As nice of a reunion as this was, I do not believe there is common ground for our goals. Lena- That sadly seems to be the case…call me when you start facing the real consequences of TDS. Rostova- I will reach out when we have the solution. We are close. We can build an intelligence that will help us reach for the answer. Julia- …

Meeting Julia

The amplifier showed someone walking their way, so Natalia and Paloma decided to retreat, but they were unable to hide in time so they acted like Natalia was experiencing some pains.

Julia- You know, they might not be able to tell, but you should be standing with your shoulders back. You're supposed to have been carrying this weight for months now. Your body gets tired and compensates in the wrong way.

Natalia was frozen for a moment and didn't know how to react. The only thing that came to mind was… Natalia- I'm sorry. Julia- For the lie or for luring me into the fight earlier? Natalia- …both. Julia- …

Julia started to turn to leave.

Julia- I'm sorry too. For everything and…for your loss. Leon was a complicated man, but you seem to be the only one actually mourning him here. He deserved better. Natalia- He did…I don't remember much of him. But I feel like he did. Julia- It seems we've all forgotten who we used to be. We'd do well to remember. Perhaps you can do something to honor his memory. Somebody should… Natalia- I…could. Julia- You would? A speech, perhaps? Natalia- I wouldn't know what to say. I have so few memories of him. But I can't seem to shake the feeling…he was a kind man. Julia- Then don't give a speech, but please, share the bond you had with that man. We will all one day share his fate, whether we realize it or not. Being forgotten is a fate worse than death… Natalia- I don't think I'm ready. Everyone here…they seem to hate him. Julia- And that is their right. But you are not seeking consensus of his memory. You are sharing the part you knew. We all make mistakes, more and more the longer we live. Grant his spirit some rest, at least so he can know he touched one heart…

Her words resonated with Natalia. She might not remember the man…but she could feel his spirit. That kind and misunderstood man. He was an idealist, and that rubbed off on her. Perhaps…she could be brave for him. Just for one moment…

Kathy's Song

She approached the man with the guitar and whispered to his ear. "Simon and Garfunkel?" The man seemed to know the song from long ago. She knew it used to be one of Leon's favorites and she knew the lyrics well. Everyone. May I have your attention for a moment? The chattering stopped, some people who were headed to the exit turned around. I know Leon was a complicated man. I've spoken to some of you and can understand there are mixed opinions or even negative memories of the man. I don't have many memories of him… Like many of you, I lost years of my life to a project that we all believed in. A project Leon believed in. We might not be gathered today with the same experience, but we're all here to remember the same man. And I might not have the words to tell you about him, but I can feel what he meant to me… Let me share a glimpse of the man I knew…

The guitarrist caught the cue and started playing. She braced herself, holding on to the fleeting courage before she came back to her senses and realized the terrible mistake she was about to make. She let her feeling guide her.

I hear the drizzle of the rain like a memory it falls soft and warm, continuing tapping on my roof and walls and from the shelter of my mind through the windos of my eyes I gaze beyond the rain-drenched street to England, where my heart lies.

My mind's distracted and diffused my thoughts are many miles away they lie with you when you're asleep and kiss you when you start your day

and a song I was writing is left undone don't know why I spend my time writing songs I can't believe with words that tear and strain to rhyme and so you see I have come to doubt all that I once held as true

I stand alone without belief the only truth I know is you

and as I watch the drops of rain weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the rain there but for the grace of you go I

She stopped and closed her eyes, surrendering to the emotion. Her mind struggled to understand what she was feeling and so it started to spin. Faster and faster. Her surroundings blurred away and took her to a remote place, empty and cold. TDS, she knew. But she let it happen and everything kept spinning around her. Like a tornado, the spinning seemed to be taking her somewhere, and it eventually showed her a figure. She struggled to recognize him but allowed the spin to take her there. And little by little, it slowed down, until she was able to hold his gaze. He was smiling at her, sorrowful and thankful. The figure dissolved away and she felt a tug bring her back to life. The egg was thumping all around, it looked like it was hatching and that's when she knew, with all certainty. She backed away and murmured to herself. She ran at full speed towards Paloma, she needed her to hear, she needed to share this secret.

Natalia- He didn't do it. He didn't do it, Paloma. Paloma- What? Natalia- He didn't kill himself. Leon didn't kill himself. Also, the egg is hatching. We need to get out of here.

The confrontation with Arcturus

They turned around only to find the large man with the glowing eyes coming right at her. They wouldn't be able to escape him this time. He blocked her with his body, her back against the wall. A- Beautiful rendition…Natalia Sunday.

He was trying to intimidate her. But she knew there was no way out of this situation but through it. N- Sir. A- Your manager called. You're supposed to be in Austin, not singing silly funeral songs for pitiful men. N- Sir. A- Do you want me to fire you? Is that what you want? N- Sir. A- "Sir, sir, sir". Is that the only thing you know how to say? Do we hire morons at Apex Technologies? N- I am no moron…sir. A- You will report back to work next week. We have no use for your therapy, but someone needs to manage the people with TDS. Do not forget you report to me. Not Leon, not anyone in this god-forsaken country.

He pushed towards her, she could feel the wall pressing against her back.

N- I will stay here, sir. A- Oh, you want to play games? Let's play games. If you have the time to sing and play, you're not working hard enough. I believe…you will come to regret this. N- …

Paloma yelled behind him.

P- Time to go, wart-face. Your carriage is awaiting.

He turned to face her and gave her a look of absolute disgust.

A- Piggies do not talk.

Paloma did not take kindly to this and punched him in the groin. His face flushed with anger and raised his first, making the motion to punch her but stopping himself.

A- Pathetic. I do not hit little girls. You'd do well to know who you're messing with. P- I know. Luckily, I'll never see you again. A- Hm.

Natalia used the opportunity to rush outside. The egg was truly hatching now. She tried to look for a safe place to hide but she tripped on the cobblestone road and instinctively braced the egg and turned away. With nothing to stop her fall, she fell hard on her face. Someone tried to stop her and helped her regain her composure. She sat down, holding the egg, worried about its state.

Person- Don't worry, it's safe now. Let it hatch. She opened her eyes and saw it crack open, one push at a time. From inside emerged a strange creature, it looked like a huge seed with a face. Like a melon with squinted eyes and a small tail. Like a tadpole the size of a small dog. What was this thing…? The person who helped her was no other than Dr. Kaelo Al-Shabani.

Kaelo- A compakin. I thought them all gone. It seems Leon left us all with a gift.

Natalia struggled to understand what was going on. But she could feel something running down her face. Dr. Kaelo took a handkerchief and wiped it off her face.

Kaelo- You should be careful to watch where you're going. I will help you this time, but don't count on it always. Take good care of that compakin, and let it take care of you. They might be our only way forward.

The man got on a vehicle and left. She stayed dumbfounded on the ground and she heard Paloma rushing towards her in the distance. She looked at the newborn creature in front of her. It was smiling and staring intently at her. So vulnerable and strange… Natalia- Codi, huh? …Welcome home.

Leon- Well done, Natalia. That was mighty kind of you. The image of Leon was becoming clearer. They were in what looked like a jungle. There was a massive spaceship-looking vessel in front of them. It all felt so familiar, but also so foreign. Like a long-forgotten dream. This was one of the few memories she could now access of her time with Leon. What a different man he was back then, from how everyone described him. She tried looking further. Did she enter the spaceship? She tried to investigate inside her memories and she immediately felt the "drop". Everything around her was spinning, but there was no ground to hold on to, no time or sense of her own body. But there was the image of Leon. She tried to follow him through the maelstrom. She could feel him so close, like she could almost remember something… Then a weight on her shoulder woke her up. The strange creature was staring intently at het, perched on her chest. Ñam ñam? Huh? Ñam ñam, ñam ñam?

Natalia just realized that Leon didn't kill himself, so she's been floored by that. Baby Codi is trying to bond with her. She's started to remember some of her time before the YC. Her TDS episodes are getting bad because she's triggering them on purpose. There's something to be found there. Paloma is concerned about her, mad, even. But she's disguising it. Natalia has been spending too much time in the lab and she's not taking proper care of Codi. She jokes about how that's where Nat and her are very different. She tries to solve the problem by looking inside her harder, like "oh, who killed Leon? Let me do some introspection". While Paloma believes that solving the mystery requires looking outward, and narrowing the list of suspects. Nat- I just found out he didn't kill himself, someone killed him! P- Yeah, I'm going to introspect harder on who did it. I'm just going to look inside my memory palace. I think we need to look outside and actually investigate. Whoever did it, was in the party yesterday*. You know what they say, the killer always comes back to the scene of the crime. N- That's the thing, they already came back if it was one of them. But why would they kill him? I need to figure out their motive. P- Whatever. I know why they did it: They were jealous. They killed my favorite teacher and so I'm going to punch whoever did it, hard in the gut. And who knows, maybe I already did it? It might've been that asshole with the steroid addiction. N- Yeah, it could be. I also don't like him, but why would he do it? P- Maybe there was because of the compakins. N- But then what are the compakins? N- He's a wad. P-A what? N-A wad. You know what, turn off your t-box for a moment. I think you need to hear this. She does a gesture with her haptic glove. P- Oh! N- No no no, hear me out. He's a cab. P- Why call him that? N- No, he's a cab, like a cabron. Like a wad that doesn't even reach fuckwad status. P- Oh, I like this! N- I needed you to turn off your t-box so you could properly hear it. Otherwise the translation will keep sliding. P- Right, the neural networks need a strong change in the reward system. N- Just a clear one, not a strong one. P- Agree to disagree.

Natalia has been planning this trip for a while now. It took some convincing with the director, but she finally agreed after Natalia volunteered for overseeing the detention room for the month. All of junior high came along, with 3 other teachers watching the students. One of them was Monty. She was excited to spend time with him, but more importantly, she was excited about the purpose of the trip. While the official purpose was just to give a lecture on the Sleeping Returners, she wanted to do more than that. It was an idea from her class as well, and she felt like she was finally finding a way to get them interested in the past while she herself was coming to understand their vision for the future.

The Sleeping Hub was in the mountains away from Tepoztlan and Tres Marias, in Chichinautzin. There was a main road and a train line from back in the Days of the Hum but it was seldom used nowadays. They had to get special permission and the train moved particularly slow to avoid any remaining obstacles on the rails.

They were going to visit for the day and then move to the Lagunas de Zempoala to camp and spend the night. Natalia had fond memories of camping as a young girl. Oddly enough, some of them with Monty. The students and staff had double checked the weather forecasts to ensure no ill events were awaiting them, though they'd be staying with a Green Glove community in Zempoala so they would be well adjusted. This was thanks to Monty and his connections, not that the principal had to know.

Since everyone in her class already knew about Codi, she was able to carry him without any concerns. She was feeling more at ease with him now.

At the Sleeping Hub, they weren't allowed to go inside. There was a research center that rarely left. Natalia used her social hacking skills to get access to the least restricted area. Once inside, they got an explanation from one of the researchers on how the hub worked and what they were able to learn. Natalia asked if the kids could explore the premises, which the researcher obviously prohibited, but one of the students was able to ask insightful questions that got the researcher wondering. While many of the children seemed nostalgic, Paloma seemed to brag about her brother being one of the sleeping remainers. Despite not getting access, the trip was a success. However, before leaving, Natalia decided to use her training to do another dive. Perhaps here, she could glean a little more information.

It started as normal, the whirlwind and the image of the red wasteland. However, something was different this time. Codi was with her. She navigated back to the usual memory, where she was working with Leon, about to enter the Yosemite-C, where she would always lose control. But this time, Codi was in her arms. She booted up and…there she was. The Yosemite-C! She saw herself in what felt like a sea of colors, like she was submerged and close to the seabed. Her body started to separate into multiple versions and she felt like she was about to faint, but she felt Codi's body anchoring her to a single self. She could see her other versions moving and walking around. She let her attention start to wander and soon enough, and she started to feel overwhelmed by the possibilities. She tried to do Somatic Override on herself, tapping on her head faster and faster, to no avail. She had no way to get back to herself.

Back in the real world, Natalia had collapsed and her body was experiencing aggressive spasms. The children ran in a panic and were able to get Monty, who tried to stabilize her heart by doing compressions and ended up having to inject her with some substance that made the spasms stop. She did not wake up until some hours later, when they were in Zempoala.

She was feeling hazy, but fine otherwise. Monty was sitting on a chair next to her, with a somber look all around him. She was happy to see him, but he was not. He scolded her for being so irresponsible. She had a whole class of kids depending on her, he said. "All returners are the same", accusing her of prioritizing a way back into the Yosemite-C over taking care of the children that she had signed up for. He saw this as a naked attempt at getting close to the YC, as looking for a way back.

She wanted to melt away, she felt her heart racing and her TDS start to take hold. So she performed Somatic Override and was back in control of herself. She was able to get back up and go out of the cabin to catch the sunset. The kids were playing around the lakes, some with kites. Paloma was sitting alone near a stream, holding Codi tight. Natalia saw her but, without access to her emotions, thought nothing of it and just went to check in with each of the students. They were concerned about her, but she was able to assuade her fears with a calm explanation. Or so she thought. By the time it came to Paloma, she seemed to be furious rather than worried. She refused to speak to her much, then left, leaving Codi with Natalia. She was confused for a moment, but then decided to let it go. However, having Codi near her made it impossible to fully disconnect from her feelings, so they came back.

Monty showed up and told her the story of Paloma's brother. How they were left orphans when their parents uploaded to the Yosemite-C. They were expecting their children to follow along promptly, since Paloma was near the age limit to upload, but her brother decided to stay behind to take care of her. This went on for 2 years where they lived in the community Monty was a part of. They were good kids, often reading manga and going off on patrols together. Until one day when it was very cold, Paloma came back alone.

Natalia was able to internalize the importance of this and she felt moved. Monty apologized for the way he reacted. She decided to bring the children together around the firepit, bringing out her guitar. Since the kids weren't allowed inside for Leon's funeral, she suggested they sing a song to remember him by, and for everyone who was sleeping. Monty suggested a song and told Natalia to turn off her t-box. He played Carta a Francia, by Fernando Delgadillo, which was a favorite of Leon. The children sang along and Natalia felt moved once more. Near the end, Paloma jumped up and left running. Natalia decided to follow.

Paloma played it off, but Natalia apologized nonetheless. Codi started to transform.

The next morning, Codi wasn't laying next to Natalia. She got out and saw him laying on a rock, a beautiful, yellow flower shimmering on his back under the morning sun. She approached and when he looked at her, he yelled "Natalia"! She was very taken aback. He tried to say other things, but was mostly incoherent. She now had to reckon with the fact that her compakin could talk, and that he seemed to just be getting started.

Natalia decided to accompany Paloma after being dropped off, after what Monty said of seeing her parents for herself. The parents were nice, they offered her tea, but barely paid attention to Paloma, beyond a passing greeting, like you would an acuaintance on the street. There was no doubt in Natalia's mind that they had Tier III TDS. There were 4 tiers, with little recourse the higher up you'd go. For reference, Natalia had been Tier I. It was common for Tier III patients to get discharged soon and to focus on keeping up their routines and to have a live-in nurse. Some were able to work, so long as their job was close to their house and didn't operate any delicate machinery or had potential for terrible consequences. There had been a case of a Tier II patient in Austin who operated the train, who slided to Tier III on the job and ran into the station. It was very common for patients to slide further, with only anecdotal evidence of patients recovering from Tier III. There were no storied of Tier IV patients ever coming back. You could often see them in parks or care centers, with a likely recurring TDS episode, over and over. In Austin, Tier IV patients were let out of the city…with everyone refusing to think of what would happen after that, lest they slide off too themselves. The reports mentioned cases were getting worse at an alarmign rate in some cities, but Austin was able to keep the rate relatively low. She was proud of her part in that. But she only had to treat Tier II patients, most of the time… She wondered if her team was taking good care of her patients. She felt her heart start to race so she turned to leave. Paloma had gone to her room, but she noticed Codi looking off in that direciton, his flower a deep blue with some purple and red.

She decided to go talk to her instead.

At Paloma's house, after meeting the parents He's not sleeping…I say that because…it's easier. When they woke up I wasn't happy, I wasn't angry, I just…told them. The first thing I did was tell them that he was gone. And they just looked at me like they were asking "...who?". They didn't care that their own son was gone. That's how I knew they weren't back. That I still had to take care of myself. That I'll always be alone. As alone as I've always been ever since he… … We always said we'd have a pirate crew of our own. We'd travel together all over, having adventures, helping people, fixing this broken world. A pirate crew, huh? Would you also be stealing? Plundering, aye? Only from the bad guys. Sometimes just for fun. Haha…maybe we should. Hm? Start our pirate crew. Do more than just…sit around and hope things get better. Maybe that's what Leon was trying to tell me. We should. It would be so much fun. It will be chaotic, and messy…but maybe that's what we need. Codi will be our navigator! Will he? And you'll be the First Mate! Commander. I'm not opposed to that…so long as I don't have to call you captain. That's captain Paloma for you! Hahaha

Paloma looks away for a moment longingly, outside of her room.

Do you think maybe… Not with Tier III, not that I know of…experiments are risky as they often lead to the patients' condition worsening. I figured… But maybe…

She looks at Codi, peacefully sleeping with his flower blooming in a bright pink, with stripes of orange and yellow.