Mid-book finale part 1.


    KYLE''S P.O.V


    The elevator made a soft hum as it descended to the ground floor.


    To be frank, I don''t really know what had just happened. Pruitt found out about the plan… Or at least I think he did.


    The elevator dinged and the doors shot open. I glanced up, this was my stop.


    I stepped out of the elevator and made my way to the exit.


    I couldn''t stop thinking… I got a verbal warning, and that''s about it. His response was nothing like I had in mind. I figured he was going to fire me, but that is not what happened.


    I left the office building and made my way to the ground control center.


    As I approached, you could already see another security guard at the door to the building.


    Once I got up to the door, the tall, gray-ish furred guard stopped me.


    “I work for ground control,” I said, “It''s self explanatory why I''m here.” I told the guard, showing him my ID card.


    He checked the card and gave me a weird look. “Yep..” He said, and he unlocked the door.


    “Thanks,” I said, pushing the door open past the guard.


    I rushed down the hallway that the door led into. At the end of the hall hung a sign, pointing towards the control room. I followed the sign until I found the control room door.


    This door didn''t have any guards attending it, thankfully.


    I twisted the door handle and entered the control room. I was greeted by many familiar faces and voices.


    “Hey it''s Kyle!” Said one voice.


    “Oh hey!” Followed another.


    “Hi…” I said, Shutting the door behind me.


    One coworker came up to me and gave me a stapled pamphlet. Written on it in bold letters were the words “EX-6 mission directive”.


    I began to flip through the pamphlet. It went over some of the parameters for the next mission, although the information it told me was incredibly ambiguous.


    I pulled pulled out the chair at my console and sat down in it, still trying to make sense of what I was reading


    McCoy, one of the ground control staff, spoke up. “Don''t you think Pruitt is rushing on this?” He said to the entire room.


    “We''re all thinking that..” remarked someone else in the room.


    “This doesn''t even tell us how long the mission will last,” said someone else, slapping their pamphlet down onto the console in front of them.


    Everyone began talking to each other, explaining their personal distrust for the next mission


    I wasn''t paying too much attention to this. I was still thinking about my meeting with Pruitt.


    Was this really the end of my plan to save Michael and everyone else? To find out what had happened?


    It was clear, If I got anywhere near the Adastra, something bad was likely going to happen.


    And then there is Conrad. I still don''t even know what his consequences were with Pruitt. My only guess is he might have gotten a nasty scolding.


    Speaking from personal experience, when you get in trouble with your dad, that is never fun.


    This brings me to the second biggest issue regarding my plan. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    We weren''t supposed to leave for a further week, and the Adastra still hadn''t been fueled. How am I supposed to add rocket fuel without getting close to it?


    I spun back in fourth in my chair trying to figure out how to solve this issue… until it hit me.


    The answer was right here in the room.


    As far as Pruitt was concerned, the 5 other protogens in this room weren''t involved in my plan.


    Bingo.


    I got out of the chair and stood up. “You guys remember that idea I had a couple of weeks ago? During our lunch break?”


    “Yeah?”, said McCoy.


    “Well… I was going to put that theory to the test using the adastra.” I said to everyone.


    Everyone was surprised to hear this. Some faces even smiled in approval.


    “How''d you get permission for that?” Asked One of the controllers, perking up in his chair.


    “That''s the thing, I didn''t. And that''s why I also need your help..”


    “Wait, you haven''t told anyone?” McCoy said.


    “Conrad is helping me with this, besides him, you are the only ones I''ve told.” I said to the room.


    “If he''s helping you, then why should we risk our jobs by getting involved?” Said another one of the controllers.


    “Neither of us are allowed to get close to the adastra, and that''s where you guys come in. All I need for you guys to do is to fuel the Adastra. That''s it.”


    “I don''t know…” said McCoy, looking back at everyone in the room.


    “Well, don''t you want to find out what happened? We all know the EX-5 didn''t break up in orbit.” I said to him, pointing at the computer consoles in the room.


    McCoy paused and looked down for a moment.


    He raised his head and looked out the large windows overlooking the runway. “I''ve got a friend who might know how to do the fueling, he''d be willing to help.” He said.


    “So you''ll do it?” I asked him.


    He turned back and looked at me, “Not because it''s a good idea. I too want to find out what actually happened to them.”


    “Me too!” Said a dark purple protogen from the back of the room.


    “Me 3!” said a yellow protogen.


    “Me as well!” Followed another.


    Without missing a beat, all of the mission controllers were raising their hands in an eager fight to help me.


    Shortly after this occurred, the handle on the door rattled.


    Everyone''s gaze immediately shot towards the door.


    The door slid open and a tall figure stepped into the room. It was Conrad.


    “Hi..” He said, closing the door behind him.


    “You good?” I asked him.


    He was clearly shaken up a little bit.


    “I''m fine,” Conrad said, “My dad though… He said he''s having the Adastra dismantled and scrapped.”


    “HE''S WHAT?’ I said in a panic.


    “We''re not gonna be able to do it..” He said.


    “N-no no no- that can''t be right!” I cried, “Pruitt that asshole!”


    McCoy came back up to us, interested in the news.


    “They are scrapping it? When? We still might have enough time to fuel it.” He said, stopping in front of Conrad.


    “You know about the- Kyle! You told them?” Conrad said, giving me a confused look.


    “Yeah,” I said, wiping the tears off my visor with the back of my hand, “These guys are our only hope to get the adastra fueled.”


    Conrad paused and turned back to McCoy.


    “They are moving the adastra to a different hanger later tonight… Conrad said, heavy with concern.


    Tonight. That word sounded like a gunshot.


    I flicked up my wrist and looked at my watch. 1:37 PM.


    Refueling would take maybe an hour and a half… Getting the hyperspace cell would be a tricky ordeal, that itself could easily take another hour and a half.


    Then there is other equipment such as flight suits. Those would be in storage… It might take 40 or 50 minutes to find the Adastra flight suits. Then there are the unfinished repairs. There were still some critical things that weren''t working, such as the copilot avionics. (Screens that display information like altitude, speed, etc.)


    Even if we''d completed all the necessary repairs, it would still be incredibly dangerous to use the adastra.


    But when you''ve only completed half of those necessary repairs… you''re just gambling with fate at that point.


    “This could still be feasible!” I said, “We can''t waste any time, if we start working now, we can do it.”


    Conrad was taken aback by this, surprised by my determination.


    “Maybe, but the adastra still isn''t in any condition to fly-” he tried to explain.


    “It''s in good enough condition, and remember this is our only option” I said to him.


    “You think so?” Conrad said with an inquiry look.


    I nodded, “We''ve got no alternative, so I can''t possibly think otherwise.”


    McCoy, who had been standing besides me, decided to speak up once again.


    “So are we doing this or not?” He asked.


    “It appears so…” Conrad replied, letting out a sigh in the process, “Kyle is right, we can''t waste any time on this.”


    McCoy ushered the other controllers to stand with us.


    The 4 remaining controllers got out of their seats and joined Conrad, McCoy and I in a circle.


    Everyone''s attention fell onto me. Conrad gestured quickly for me to start speaking.


    “Alright uh…” I said, trying to form a plan. “McCoy and the other ground control personnel will refuel the Adastra. There are large fuel stores in one of the neighboring hangers; they are close enough to be hooked up to the .”


    The controllers nodded their heads, except one asked a question. “How are the 5 of us, assuming you and Conrad won''t be there, how will we be getting past the security you mentioned?”


    “That''s a good question,” I responded, “Conrad will summon a meeting with the hangar building security. This will give you enough time to refuel the spacecraft.” I said.


    “That''s never gonna work-” Conrad said, folding his arms.


    “If the meeting is about security protocol, it won''t bat much of an eye.” I told Conrad.


    He didn''t seem very trusting of my reasoning, which was understandable.


    “While that is all happening, I''ll be retrieving the flight suits. The new flight suits designed for the EX missions are not compatible with the Adastra, which means I''ll have to find it''s old in storage.” I explained.


    “What about the hyperspace cell?” Asked McCoy.


    “Conrad and I will have to get that right before we leave. For safety reasons, when the hyperspace cell is removed from the assembly building, an alarm will go off.” I said.


    You might be asking yourself why that is. Hyperspace cells aren''t some top secret thing, it''s actually how we first arrived onto Aureon. It''s the power of the hyperspace cell that is the issue. When fully charged, it has the power of a small black hole. All this power is crammed into a suitcase sized container.


    If this container was mishandled, breached or damaged while on the ground, half of the planet will be violently defaced. You obviously don''t want this to happen, so alarms are put into place to let people know when the hyperspace cell is being moved.


    Anyhow, I continued to explain the plan. “Once the security meeting is over, Conrad will meet me in the storage building, where we will put on the flight suits. After that we go to the assembly building, where we will be ‘borrowing’ the hyperspace cell meant to be used for the EX-6 mission.” I explained to everyone.


    “You guys understand?” Asked Conrad.


    The 5 ground controllers nodded their heads.


    “Alright then,” Conrad said, turning to me. “I''ll get that security meeting underway.”


    “Sounds good… wait, you guys know how to refuel the spacecraft, right?” I asked, gesturing to the others.


    Some of them almost burst out laughing. “We are nerds, aren''t we? Of course we know.”


    “I''m counting on that,” I said. “Alright then, let''s do this!”


    Conrad nodded, and he made his way to the door. He turned around before he got to the door and looked at us. “If this doesn''t work out, I''ll see to it that none of you take any blame. This might have been Kyle’s idea, but I''m the one allowing this to happen. Because of that, I''ll be taking full responsibility for all of your actions.”


    We all solemnly agreed. Conrad was risking his entire future, an almost guaranteed chance to become the CEO of the space agency when Pruitt retires.


    Quietly, Conrad turned his back to us and left the room.


    I turned to the other controllers, “You guys get in that hanger, fuel the adastra, and get the fuck out of there.” I said to them,


    “We know,” They said, “once the security is gone, nobody will know we were there… or at least long enough for you guys to get out of here.