Celeste

A week later, Celeste had made another implant for Zinnia. It was the exact same as Dri's. It was capable of showing Zinnia's memories, well the ones that Zinnia wanted to show, which might not be much.

Both had tolerated the procedure well.

Celeste wasn’t surprised, she was cautious. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. For now, everything was normal and the implant was functioning fine. There was nothing to worry about.

“I don’t feel any different.” Zinnia said as she looked over to Celeste after speaking with a few pilots through her headset. “I thought I’d feel...superhuman or something.” she shrugged.

“That’s a little out there.” Celeste said to her. “But now you can watch your memories, so that’s pretty cool.” She down played the idea, but she knew it was more than that.

What Hariette came up with, what Celeste finished, it was a start to something incredible. But in the wrong hands, it can be used for war. Celeste knew how important it was to make sure that this project stayed a secret, and that she watched Dri and Zinnia closely. She had Clover’s help as well.

"Yeah, you created a good weapon." Zinnia snickered.

"You love your conspiracy theories don't you?" Celeste said.

"Imagine another country getting a hold of your blue prints. Imagine the spies that could get secrets and information." Zinnia said.

"My blue prints are buried pretty deep and I coded it." Celeste wasn't that concerned. "No one's going to get it."

That's not what worried her.

"At least I have a way of proving to you when you're being oblivious." Zinnia saw the good part in this.

"I'm not-"

"Scatter brained? Yeah, you are." She laughed when Celeste tried to defend herself.

Celeste did have a habit of wandering around. It was no surprise. She has a lot to think about and she likes seeing this. Of course she would find herself somewhere she's not supposed to be.

"Now I can show you." Zinnia turned in her seat, leaning her head on to her hand as she looked at Celeste.

She was going to enjoy this.

She had to admit Celeste did make something powerful. And Celeste wasn't evil, it's not like she intends to start a war. Celeste just wanted to help, and she did.

She created something amazing.

"You're so smart." Zinnia said, a dreamy expression to her face as she continued to stare at Celeste. She had to admit that Celeste continues to surprise her with what she can do.

It's not just that she was smart, but she always put her heart into everything she did. Zinnia could tell that she poured her soul into this project.

It was perfect.

"Ladies, ladies." A young man had cut in to their conversation as he walked over to where the two were sitting, and he had a friend with him as well.

They wore similar uniforms, black slacks instead of skirts. Dark shirts, silver badges on their chests. It was cold outside so they had on jackets as well.

Celeste and Zinnia turned in their chairs to face them. It was almost time for shift change. The two young men were early, however. Zinnia and Celeste weren't surprised. They just rolled their eyes.

"It's been a while." One of them said.

"We saw the two of you last week." Celeste said, but she smiled at them. "When are you retaking your exam, Faye?" She asked one of them.

He has bright green eyes and silver hair, just like hers, but shorter. "Next week." He answered. "I'm telling you right now, I'm going to be a pilot."

"My cousin passed his exam on the first try." Celeste said. "He told me it was easy-"

Faye nudged her shoulder, not excited to be teased since he was nervous. "It's not easy, okay. Aerospace engineering is not fun." He was stressed out. "Especially when it's focused on aviation."

Zinnia looked at Celeste, not exactly impressed with Faye's frustration. "Celeste is an aerospace engineer, too-"

"Ah," Celeste had to stop her there. Well, she was going to correct her in front of the young men. "I'm a mechanical engineer." She said. "With a focus in aerospace, electrical, and chemical science." She added.

"Yikes." The other man said. "You must've hated school with that one." He almost didn't believe she did all that.

"Apparently, I was the only one ready to jump from the tallest building." She said plainly.

Did she make her life more complicated? She acknowledges that she did. But she couldn't say the thrill of coming out on top wasn't satisfying. Well, it was for a little while. After that, she wanted to do something low stress.

"So, why are you here then?" Faye asked. People always asked her that when she tells them what her expertise was in. She could avoid the questions if she didn't brag. Though that was something she didn't want to compromise. "You could be anywhere with that kind of flexibility." Faye said to her.

"You must find it boring here. Why aren't you actually engineering stuff?"

"I do it privately." Celeste said. She thought it was better. "I take too many days off so the System is close to changing my status to dependent."

"That's not surprising." Faye snickered with his friend.

Celeste showed up when she felt like it. She could do that because she does work privately as well.

"I pick up projects to make up for my 'lack of contributions'." She air quoted the phrase because she's gotten multiple notices from the System before.

"Work for the government then."

That was said like it was an easy solution, but it didn't interest Celeste as much.

"So I'm forced to do everything they want? Not interested." Celeste already decided against that years ago. She wanted freedom to do what she wanted. "Private companies are more flexible anyway."

"What could you possibly be working on privately?"

"The new jets have my engines." Celeste crossed her arms over her chest as she looked up to the other two standing in front of her. "We can also talk about that pretty plane you were gawking at last month." She added, though there was more she could add if she wanted to.

Apparently she couldn't learn from her more than recent mistake about bragging.

The two men looked at each other before they glanced at Celeste again. She wasn't joking, that's for sure. They didn't ask for proof. Celeste always gave off the energy like she was serious about her accomplishments. The two men didn't scoff. They almost felt threatened.

"What about you, Zinnia-"

"Mind your own, Kiran. I'm not going to keep telling you." Zinnia turned around in her seat, facing the screens and windows instead.

"She's not interested." Celeste whispered to the young male who continued to try to get with Zinnia. "You don't want to pester my girlfriend, do you?" Celeste asked casually as she moved around in her chair.

"When did that start happening?" Faye thought she was lying. "We saw you last week."

"We've been dating for almost two years." Celeste smiled widely. "You're telling me you don't eaves drop on our sexy conversations?"

The two of them didn't believe her. They stared at her with wide eyes. They had no idea that Celeste and Zinnia were dating. It wasn't hard to believe, but they didn't know when it happened.

Faye grabbed on to Kiran. "We'll...be right back." he tugged his friend on out of the room quickly.

Apparently they had to discuss what just happened.

Zinnia shook her head and scoffed, more disappointed than annoyed, but she wasn't surprised. Celeste liked teasing people so she found entertainment in shocking those two young men with her secrets.

Everyone was aware of how close Celeste and Zinnia were, but they didn't know it was more than just friendship. As much as Celeste would love to show her affection in public, she respects Zinnia's low affinity for the public display of affection. So it can come as a surprise when they tell people that they're actually dating.

Now two more people know.

Zinnia wanted to change the lingering subject on to something else. “How’s everything with your parents?” She asked since she knew Celeste was occupied with that now.

She sighed and sat back in her chair. “I don’t know. People are trying to force Aurora into something he doesn’t want, and I’ve heard that it’s not the first time they’re doing this to him.” She didn’t like it. She heard there would be a lot of problems if Aurora tried to change occupations.

The Department of Justice has been watching and waiting for twenty-eight years.

“I don’t know what he did.” Celeste sounded sad.

“I heard that he rewrote the system.” Zinnia whispered quietly.

That is a serious offense, but also impossible. Celeste didn't believe Aurora somehow found a way to rewrite a whole societal system. That takes time, that takes effort, and for a person to be able to do it alone, they have to be smart. Incredibly smart.

Celeste thought she knew what Aurora was capable enough. Would he do something so daring and illegal?

“Yeah, right.” Celeste didn’t believe that. “Aurora wouldn’t do that." She didn't know what could make Aurora do something that drastic that he would risk going to jail for life. "Where’d you hear that from?” she looked at Zinnia.

“I know a guy who used to be part of British military. Aurora is always on the radar.”

“He’s Head of Defense.” Celeste wasn’t surprise that another country was keeping a close eye. What did they expect?

“I heard he blocked off the European continent.” Zinnia added just as quietly.

Celeste heard that from Hariette. So what Zinnia was saying must be true. If Aurora actually did rewrite the system, his pending charges must lead to life in prison. Just getting close to the building where the core is located is a federal offense.

“He would never tell me.” Celeste shook her head. “Sirus won’t either. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but they aren’t the only ones either.” She said.

“I mean, it must have been hard if they’ve been military for this long. No one wants to talk about parts of their life they didn’t enjoy.” Zinnia wanted to make Celeste feel better, or at least not stress her out even more.

“I know.” Celeste sighed again and moved her arms behind her head. “I just don’t like finding out from other people.” She admitted, sighing quietly to herself.

She preferred if they told her right then and there. She thought she was old enough to know. She could handle it if it was bad.

“I might just find out myself.” She sat up straight abruptly and pulled out her tablet to call someone. It didn't take long for Dri to answer. “You busy?” She asked him.

“I’d love to say I’m not too busy for you, but I have a few things I should be doing.” He said to her. “What’s wrong?” He could see there was something up by the look on her face.

“I want answers.” She said. “There’s something going on and I want to find out what they’re hiding.”

Dri figured that Celeste was still upset about not knowing the truth. He wish he could say he sympathized but he couldn't. “You mean the government?” He didn’t think Celeste was thinking straight, she must be stressed out. “You’re mad that government officials are keeping government secrets to themselves?” He wanted to be sure that she knew what she was saying.

“I need to know what Aurora did and why he can’t tell people to back off.”

Dri knew what would happen if Celeste so much as mentions that she, a civilian, knows something.

He looked at Zinnia instead. “Zinnia, please tell her that’s a bad idea because I feel like she won’t listen to me.”

“I can handle myself.” Celeste interjected. She definitely didn't want someone trying to watch over her or stop her.

“Last time, I got written up because we went on a field trip. That’s my fault." Dri had no problem accepting responsibility for what happened before. He was going to learn from his mistake. "This time you'll really get in trouble.”

“Dri-”

“Celeste, you’re just a civilian. It doesn’t matter who your parents are.” He told her. And he was right to say that.

Celeste never paraded who her parents were. She didn't try to abuse the privilege she had. She didn't want to show off either. But just because her parents might know classified information, it doesn't mean that she's entitled to it.

It's not like she'd get anything.

Dri could tell her this a thousand times and ways but she wouldn't understand. “You can’t know everything, Celeste.”

He was right. She wasn’t entitled to all their secrets either.

That didn’t stop her.

She didn't like what Dri said so she was going to do this herself. She doesn't need someone else to get access, she might as well get there on her own. She ended the call and got up, grabbing her coat. She was going to find out the answers to her questions. She’s tired of being kept in the dark.

"Celeste," Zinnia warned her but she wasn't going to get up to stop Celeste.

"I'll see you later, Zinnia."

If she wasn't arrested first.

How was Celeste going to pry answers from Aurora? She's heard that he's snuck around before, and that means he's good at lying. She had to find Sirus instead. He'd know just as much.

Celeste knew where to find Sirus if she couldn’t find Aurora, and Aurora was very difficult to find. Sirus not so much. He's doing less and less, and would prefer to do nothing at all. When he wasn't working, he was bothering Aurora. Aurora was gone for the day, so Sirus must actually be working.

Dri was not going to stop her.

She found Sirus on his own, walking down the hallway on the first floor. It looked like he had somewhere to be, though he wasn't trying to get there quickly. Celeste looked around, there was no one nearby. Dri wasn't following behind his sector leader, he was probably leading the sector on his own today.

Celeste had her chance.

She caught up with Sirus and asked if they could talk privately, although the hallway was empty. Asking to talk privately was never a good sign, especially if the child was asking.

What did she do?

Sirus wasn't going to be surprised.

They walked off to a secluded area together. “What do you want?” Sirus asked her, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the wall.

Celeste was about to ask some serious questions, and she had her proof lined up as well. What Zinnia told her struck her, so she looked for things that might confirm that it's true.

One year there were reports about the artificial northern lights in the sky, the red beams of energy used to cut off an entire continent.

Another year there was a mysterious outage for a few minutes. People couldn't use their devices during any of that time. And for some reason, the Head of Defense then was arrested a day afterward.

Those aren't just random things that happened.

Celeste thought it was proof. The details were just kept from the public.

Aurora did it.

Celeste just needs to confirm it. Does Aurora really have pending charges on his profile?

Celeste had to stand her ground and be tough. Her father wasn't exactly welcoming. Though he does love her more than he does himself, there are still things Celeste won't get away with. Sirus always intimidated people and sometimes Celeste could never ask him for anything. So right now she had the same demeanor he did. She could be intimidating, too. She got it from him.

“I want to know what Aurora did.” She said.

That was vague.

Sirus narrowed his eyes. “He’s...done a lot of things.” he said slowly.

Celeste held up her tablet to show him. “What happened on this year?” She asked, showing him a few reports from when everyone had something to say about the "northern lights".

Sirus remembered that entire year perfectly, mostly because he was as stressed out as anyone was. He knew what Celeste was asking.

“I can’t discuss that.” Sirus said plainly. “And you don’t need to know. That’s the kind of behavior that gets people in trouble.” he didn't want to have whatever conversation she was trying to have.

“I know Aurora has PTSD. I saw his profile on this year.” She dragged her finger on the screen to show another report.

Sirus straightened up immediately when he saw. Celeste had gotten a hold of something she shouldn’t know about. How she got it, Sirus wasn't sure, but he figured there were only two people that would've told her the truth.

He wasn't stupid. He wanted to know who it was.

“Did you talk to Harlow?” Sirus asked her, taking her tablet from her. Apparently, Celeste had a lot of information. He thought all of it was buried. It should've been. “You would only need to talk to her if Hariette did something stupid.” He had this terrible feeling like he knew what it was.

Celeste wanted to hold her own. She wanted to show that she could take care of herself, and she could. She wasn’t scared that she might get in trouble. Sirus can’t do anything to her.

Sirus grabbed her by the arm and pulled her somewhere more secluded where no one would stumble upon them talking, or him yelling at her for sneaking around and getting things she shouldn't. He was upset and he had the right to be because one big secret was about to unfold.

“You’re just like Aurora, always digging into shit you’re not supposed to-”

“That’s not fair." Celeste said quickly. "Every time I ask about something that happened, you never want to talk about it-”

“I tell you to mind your own business for your own safety, not because I think you can’t handle it.” Sirus said over her.

“Did he rewrite the system?” Celeste asked.

Sirus did not want to answer that. “Who’d you hear that from-”

“That doesn’t matter-”

“Enough.” Sirus said over her again. “No one knows he did anything to the system except government officials so it makes me think that Dri is telling you things he shouldn’t-”

“No, it’s not him, it’s-”

Celeste didn’t want to bring Zinnia into this. She should’ve been more serious when she asked how Zinnia knew that information.

“What happened twenty-seven years ago?” She asked abruptly. “Harlow said it was bad-”

Sirus had gone quiet as he looked at Celeste. He was trying to find the best way to work with the situation without getting angry but he didn’t know how. All of a sudden Celeste just knew the right questions to ask? That’s not a good sign and Sirus knows it.

“It was bad.” Sirus said. He didn’t want to tell her but he almost wanted to see if his intuition was right. “If Harlow told you about that then you already know about the experiment.”

Celeste had to come clean if she was going to get anything out of Sirus.

She took her tablet out of his hand and she changed a setting to expose everything for Sirus to see.

All of her work, her blue prints, her changes, everything lit up the entire room.

“I finished it.” Celeste said to him.

He was staring at everything she had, but it wasn't with amazement. He wanted to be shocked. If he was going to be surprised, it's that she had the done anything in the first place.

“I had to find out why Hariette couldn’t do it herself and I got it because she told me.” She turned back to Sirus who was looking at everything she had done.

He thought they all agreed to bury everything. Hariette couldn't even hold up to that.

Celeste had finished something she shouldn’t have.

Sirus looked at all of it and he knew how bad this was.

“Turn it off.” He said to her and she listened.

Sirus had a few rings on his fingers. One of them he turned on and it glowed blue. He moved his thumb against it like he was scrolling through something.

Celeste saw the blue rings in his eyes.

Sirus still had his implant after all these years. She didn't know what to say, but she waited because he was searching for something.

When he found what he was looking for, he waved his hand, and an image lit up the room. “This was why we stopped.” He said.

The memory played for her to see.

All she could hear was shouting and yelling.

Aurora was twenty-five when this happened.

His hands were pressed to his ears tightly. His eyes were a pale blue, almost turning white because of the contacts he wore. It was malfunctioning and he could feel it. That wasn’t the only thing. There had to be more, there was something going wrong. The others were panicking because they knew. He had a pained expression on his face, and he shouted at whoever was shouting at him, wanting everything to stop.

Celeste didn’t know what he was saying until he asked for help, begged for help. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t stop, and it was bringing Aurora to tears.

She wanted to know what happened. She wanted to know why he was in so much pain, what he saw, what he heard. She wanted to know why he was crying and begging for someone to make it stop.

And through Sirus’ eyes, she saw Aurora finally collapse on the floor.

Aurora’s eyes were still open. The contacts he wore were still glowing a pale blue. But he wasn’t conscious. He barely moved. Sirus moved his white hair out of his face but Aurora didn’t even respond to the touch. His face was pale, drained of blood, the tear stains on his cheeks.

It didn’t look like he was breathing either.

“Take it out of him.” Sirus looked up at Harlow, yelling at her to move.

She was in shock.

It was like she didn’t hear Sirus shouting at her to do something.

Her expression showed her fear. Celeste couldn't imagine what was going through her mind then. Harlow was the only doctor in the room, and she couldn't move. She was terrified.

Aurora was laying on the ground and she couldn't move to help him.

“Harlow!" Sirus had gotten her attention and she finally snapped out of it.

Harlow had grabbed a few items to use on Aurora. She got down on her knees beside his body and moved him on his side to cut into his neck.

Her hands were shaking, but she wasn't hesitant. Aurora's lips were turning blue, and she had to do something before worse damage happens.

Blood spilled over his skin and on to the floor, but Aurora couldn’t feel it. He wasn’t conscious. Harlow grabbed another blade, one she could use to hold Aurora’s skin open so she could see. She tried to tug at something but it wouldn’t move.

“It’s stuck.” She looked at Sirus.

“What do you mean it’s stuck-”

“I mean, if I pull too hard, he will be permanently paralyzed, Sirus.” She looked towards him. “We need to get him to a surgical room.” She helped Sirus lift him up.

"You can't do it yourself. You'll need help." Hariette said.

"I know." Harlow responded.

By then, it had gotten serious enough that Harlow didn't care who found out. She needed to help Aurora first.

But all of a sudden, Hariette collapsed on the floor as well, and she wasn't moving. Celeste figured that was the damage of the implant.

She saw what it did to both of them.

She was warned, but now she actually saw what happened that day. That was the reason why the four of them buried everything. Why would they want to continue on a project that caused that much damage?

Before the memory continued, Sirus stopped the video. It only got worse from there anyway.

Celeste was staring blankly in the darkness and in her mind, she just about watched Aurora almost get killed. She already knew it was bad. But she saw and that's different.

She should've never finished.

"I..." Celeste didn't know what to say. An apology almost came out of her mouth, but she stammered. "I didn't-"

She would've said she didn't know.

But she did know.

She had no excuse.

"I don't have to keep telling you this." Sirus looked at her. "You're grown enough to make your own choices. Just be ready to face the consequences for it."

Celeste felt this sudden wave of anxiety consume her. Bad things happened before, what's to stop it from happening again? She was about to be paranoid.

"I wouldn't tell anyone." She said.

"That's your choice." Sirus wasn't going to tell her again.

"I wouldn't..."

She wouldn't do anything bad. She wouldn't do anything harmful. She wouldn't...

She'd make sure no one would get hurt.

Celeste thought Sirus wouldn’t say anything about the finished blue prints. Aurora wasn’t in the right mental state at the time, but he wasn’t like that now. Would something happen if he knew what Celeste did?

He would definitely be upset.

Sirus had this idea that Celeste was talking to someone she shouldn’t. He knew it wasn’t Dri. As much as Dri would tell her things, he feels like someone else provoked Celeste to ask.

Something was going to happen.

He had to tell Aurora.

Celeste went back to her place quietly. She was stunned by what she saw earlier. She had no idea how serious the situation was until she saw it. And Sirus had been holding on to that memory for all these years. How could he do that?

It was a warning, a reason, proof.

The implant was no good.

Zinnia heard Celeste come into the bedroom. Celeste immediately dropped everything and started undressing without a word.

Zinnia wasn't sure what happened, but something happened. Celeste wouldn't look that upset if nothing had happened. “How’d everything go?” she was careful to ask the question.

“Sirus showed me what happened with the implant.” She said quietly and got into bed.

She was mentally exhausted. She couldn't do anything.

“It wasn’t good, Zinnia. Everything went to complete shit.” She said. "Oh, and he really does still have his implant, so there's that. Not that I didn't know, but he just gets to show me how that day went, and it wasn't good."

Celeste was upset with herself. Her hands balled up, the blanket tight in her fists. Her heart had been racing the entire way to her place, and it hadn't stopped. She felt like she was drowning. That's why she was upset with herself.

"I was warned not to do it, but I finished it anyway."

"Trial and error is a real concept." Zinnia said.

"Aurora and Hariette almost got killed, and I..."

She finished the device that did it.

"Hey," Zinnia held Celeste's face in her hands. "There's no reason for you to stress about something that happened years ago." she said. "You said yours worked better, and I believe you."

Celeste could still feel her heart beating hard in her chest.

"You need to believe in yourself, too." Zinnia knew Celeste had that issue when she gets anxious.

There's no reason to doubt herself.

She made her changes, and her implant works much better than the original. It was trial and error, just like Zinnia said. Celeste learned from Aurora and Hariette's mistake.

"Just breathe, okay." Zinnia told Celeste as she moved her hair out of her face.

Celeste calmed down a little more, enough that she couldn't hear her heart beating in her ears.

Her anxiety still lingered. She knew she was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.