45 Dystopia
Memories of that day started flushing into Alex's mind as the scene played out in front of Manager Han.
'The Chief really did help me out quite a bit with the information he told me.'
Naturally, seeing the Chief of police giving him such valuable information, like to check his details, right before he entered reaffirmed in his mind that there were good people still out there.
The recording eventually reached the climax, with the two parallel black lines finally covering Alex from head to toe and him promptly disappearing into thin air.
Manager Han hadn't said a word throughout the whole 5 minute recording, but he slouched back into his chair and released a heavy sigh when it ended.
"Unbelievable… You really weren't lying." Manager Han broke the silence in the room, speaking his thoughts out loud.
"Just how did you do it? I've never heard of anyone who's entered and left the Primordial Expanse so quickly."
"But then again, I've never left this star system so who knows what kind of geniuses and monsters there are out there in the federation."
A mysterious gleam flashed in Manager Han's eyes, but with Alex and the chief standing behind him they didn't notice anything.
"Why don't you return to your seat, we have some discussion to do. As a new awakened, there are a few procedures you need to go through before you can officially be re-entered back into the federation." Manager Han invited Alex to sit back down, while signalling towards the chief to leave the room.
Now that Alex's claims had been proved, he was no longer needed.
Meanwhile, Manager Han cleared his throat and placed his arms on the table.
"Now, I don't know what you went through on the other side, and I'm not privy to that information unless you wish to disclose it." Alex looked across the table with interest and kept his mouth shut.
Taking the clear sign that Alex wasn't going to share any details of how he managed to upgrade his soul core so quickly, Manager Han was disappointed but kept speaking.
"Good. As I'm sure you've noticed, you haven't ever come across another awakened on this lonely asteroid right?"
Alex nodded in agreement.
"That's because I'm the only awakened here."
Alex glanced at him with doubt.
The population on this rock was at least 200,000+. It can't be that he was the only unfortunate soul who got picked by the Primordial Expanse.
Confused, he gestured for Manager Han to continue.
"That's because any new awakened that manages to survive, become an Evolver and return back to the Primordial Expanse is required to leave this rock and move to one of the 5 habitable planets in this system."
Alex's eyes widened in shock.
He had never even left the district he was born in, let alone the colony itself.
But now he was expected — no, required to leave and move to a planet!
Clear blue skies, plants, animals.
Alex's mind suddenly filled with images of things he previously thought he'd never get the privilege to see in person.
Only one question remained for Alex.
"Why?"
As far as Alex knew, he was still a citizen of the colony.
It just made no sense to him why he would have to leave just because he had unwillingly gained an ant's worth of power.
"The colony is owned and operated by Asterion Resource Company, ARC for short. With over 10 million colonists living on asteroids operated by ARC, there are bound to be a few Evolvers who pop up and cause trouble every now and then."
"There was even a point in the past where an awakened didn't report their Impending doom to the appropriate authorities and were lucky enough to survive — only to incite rebellion and kill the manager overseeing their colony. This caused massive losses for the company and so they cracked down on any new awakened from that point onwards."
Not a hint of humor or any positive emotions passed through Alex when he heard this.
Of course, the top brass didn't want any threats to their golden goose.
In fact, if Alex were to evaluate the society that built up the federation it could be summarised by four words.
'A dystopia in disguise.'
The general public lived their own ordinary lives, working their ordinary jobs and continuing their ordinary lineage until they died an ordinary death.
They lived their whole lives not knowing the true face of the federation.
Billions of borderline 'slaves' spread out across all territories, in the name of mining colonies.
They still earned a wage, owned a house, fell in love and started their own families.
But so what?
There was no law saying that you couldn't leave the colony and start a new life.
But the greediness of humanity wouldn't let their money makers off that easily.
A ticket on a ship off world costs an astronomically high price for the workers and miners. So much that they'd work their whole lives until the day they died and still not be able to afford it.
The only way out was if they were lucky (unlucky) enough to become an awakened.
Realising that Manager Han was a part of this dystopian cycle, Alex wasn't in the mood to casually chat with him anymore.
"What procedures do I have to go through?" He dropped all pretenses and went straight to the point.
Manager Han recognised the change in behaviour in Alex but there was nothing he could do about it. He saw the same thing with every other awakened he dealt with when they were faced with the true reality.
***
Alex left the police station with a personal escort from Manager Han.
He went through the basic procedures in the interrogation room, providing his relevant details on his citizenship — his id number, his legal name, date of birth etc.
But the more advanced procedures like testing his powers, disclosing any abilities and registering himself as an awakened in the federal database all had to be done in a more advanced facility.
In other words, he had to leave for a planet right away.
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