The Industrialist

A doorbell startled Lance from his quick sleep. Lance groaned and glanced at his digital wall clock with one open eye. It said 0600 H. Less than four hours of sleep would trigger headaches the entire morning. He cursed inwardly, trying to move a muscle. But the pull of sleep still lingered.

The doorbell rang again. Lance finally moved and hauled himself out of his bed after a long stretch. He adorned the morning sun, even though it was faint, had not entirely invaded the confines of his new room due to a new window feature that would turn the tint automatically triggered by a press of a button.

He carefully sauntered outside his bedroom and across his living room. He glanced at his Ultragenerator that sat on the fabrication table to somehow elevate a sensation of success. The thought that the Lost Engineers needed his expertise in the matter had dumbfounded him.

He could make one, however, the procurement of an Infused electromagnetic battery and the energy accelerator, both rare-level components, could be difficult to find. Although, difficult was just an understatement, he would use 'dangerous' instead.

The Energy Accelerator could be found in Terrabitha, miles away from Axe Central city, going south nearing the borders of the Oroz Continent. People say the southern regions had more Abominant populations than the other regions.

The third bell ring annoyed him and jolted his senses to answer the door.

He hurried his steps. He opened the door and saw Damian accompanied by one bodyguard outside.

"Mister Berkley, do you know this guy? He wants to see you." The bodyguard said. It was apparent that sleep was not in their vocabulary.

"Yeah. I know him. He's my friend. Let him in." Lance responded, rubbing his eyes against his knuckles.

Damian smiled and let himself in. Lance closed the door after.

"Joe and George miss you," Damian said as he whistled pondering the expanse of his new condominium. "So, this is CBD, huh?"

"Did Joe revive the Zelkian farm? What about George? Is he okay?"

"Yes, he did. We are ready for another transaction with the Mafia. George is still George. He also was wondering about your next Tyllrium delivery."

"Yeah, Grebert is waiting for the next delivery. I just told him that we will be delayed for a few weeks, maybe."

Their transactions had been delayed due to the attacks by the SHF. Luckily, Damian had not been identified yet by the SHF as one of the rebels. Thus, the reason why Damian traveled alone inside the city was to reduce the risk of identification of his comrades.

"What about the Rebel Council? Are they still coping with the financial reserves?" Lance asked.

He remembered that they only had 4000 units to recuperate after the attack. Despite that, Lance knew that the rebels could raise money faster with the help of Outsider trades. The rebels still have leverage for the ins and outs of the wall. However, their options were dwindling, so they looked for other secret underground passages near the Eastern wall sectors, avoiding the SHF units flooding the Southern wall underground tunnels.

"The reserves are increasing. But we need the Ultragenerator, kid. We cannot just rely on running on Diesel. The cost of it. Now, that the rigs are being attacked by the Abominants, the supply is crashing!" Damian responded. He let himself fall to the cushioned couch of Lance's living room. "This is grand, Lance. How did you manage such a room? You are one of them, now, huh!" Damian scorned.

"Chester seemed to favor me because of my connection with Jaqi. We had a project together. We just patented it two days ago."

"Hmm. That explains. Jefferson is wondering when can we use the Ultragenerator?" His eyes darted to the equipment on top of the fabrication table.

"The guards are following me wherever I go. I am now the CBD Weapon's inventor. So, Chester is providing me with two SHF bodyguards. For my safety, of course."

"Yeah. I see them. Anyone can notice them. They are the opposite of covert. Those guys," Damian chuckled. "Who wears a long tux? They are hiding their weapons under them."

Damian had sharp eyes as always. He observed like an eagle hunting for prey and anticipating incoming danger that he harnessed as a soldier.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"You can take my equipment to my room when I am out. It's the only way, Damian. You take the equipment to the council and let me install it. I need to see the operation first for safety precautions," Lance requested.

"Ok. We will get it this afternoon. That's why I am here, kid. To coordinate things with you and see how are doing. What we did last week was rocking the news. You are a star now, hero!" Damian mocked. Lance only laughed at it. He anticipated that Damian would joke on his newly hailed title by the Media.

"Damian, I saw a woman. She's with the Lost Engineers."

"What? When?"

"Last night. They are watching me. They wanted the generator, too. But they had to wait for my next assembly."

"You can't. We cannot procure components here." Damian sneered. "They got to be kidding. Why not procure the materials themselves, and assemble the generator themselves? They are the Lost Engineers for Science's sake!"

"It's true. I have been wondering, too. Nevertheless, I'll have to find a way. If we want to make allies with them, then I have to fulfill their request. She said that the generator can regenerate Project Nightfall." Lance said.

"Nightfall. So, 'the bomb plant' she used was the project nightfall?" The ex-soldier asked.

"Yes, but she confirmed that the project can discredit Menks' MAF. Need something?" Lance opened his fridge. He found a sandwich that he bought yesterday from the store. It was placed inside a hard plastic transparent casing, the dressing and the green leaf cabbage protruding from the sides of the bread.

Discover hidden stories at empire

"No, I am fine. I had a steak on my way here." Damian smirked.

"Fabulous, steak!" Lance said as he placed the sandwich in the microwave oven. He turned the equipment and it warbled, heating his chilled sandwich. When he was a commoner, he only had breakfast stored in cans, containing processed food of 20% pure meat. All other ingredients were obscured from the public.

"How much are they paying for this?" Damian said, looking upon the fancy-designed ceiling of his living room. A small chandelier hung at the center of the room.

"Decent pay, Damian. I am in the bracket of high-classers now, but way lower than the upper echelons."

"Well, look at you. Doing good. Just make sure that we are still right on track, kid. Don't lose yourself from all this, and take down the Corporation as soon as possible. Jefferson is getting desperate. I hate it when he is like that. He's making rash decisions again, costing the lives of our comrades."

Damian was right. Having the luxuries in life, Lance felt comfortable momentarily. They were paying him good compensation, and such would elevate him from the discomforts of being a Commoner. He forgot the smell of the scraps any longer. Even though, his comfortable living never intervened in his vengeance.

Project Nightfall was the answer to the fall of the Corporation. With it, Lance would rise gradually until he became an Industrialist rank. If it happened, it would garner him proper control over departments and influence the citizens. But achieving such ambition would entail a lot of sacrifice. He would probably lose himself. How many years could he reach such a rank?

"You worry too much, Damian. I am getting there. Where are we with the Zelkian? I need to inform Jonaz about this. We don't need another enemy, do we? We need to maintain good rapport with Jonaz by delivering Zelkian."

Damian smiled. With Lance's businesses, Damian could earn as well.

"Yeah. We are good to go. Twenty Zelkians after two days. We can deliver."

"Lets." Lance poured himself water. His throat dried up from the talking and the sandwich that he just gobbled up. Damian stood up from the comfort of the cushion chair. He smiled at the chair. He never had such comfort before. He had a mat that he used for sleeping against cold moist concrete.

"Why is so dark in here?" Damian said, trying to pierce his vision through the tinted windows.

"Don't strain yourself, friend. Here," Lance pressed a button on the side of the wall and the tinted windows became clear. Faint morning light suddenly invades the room.

"What the…? You're not serious. Automatic windows. This is high-level shit, right here, kid." Damian venerated with his hands training on the surface of the windows. Even up to this point, Lance still enjoyed the picturesque scenery that his windows could offer.

Damian stood in front of the windows and had a sudden change of demeanor. His face loosened, and his smile had vanished.

"We need to move fast, Lance. The SHF is now hunting the Outsiders." Damian said flatly, "I have heard talks from the western regions. The illegal trade stops there. There will come a time that it will affect the Truthseeker's trade income."

"You are calling ourselves Truthseekers, now?" Lance said.

"We are from the very start. Jefferson authored the name. He's kind of going through the motion when he made that." Damian smiled.

"I am moving fast." He gobbled a bite from the sandwich. "But we need a lot of resources when the time comes. We need an army. We need to demobilize the CBD's strength first. But by doing that, we need a lot of resources. A lot of money in our pockets to provide the needed weapons." Lance frantically said.

"How? We can't even scratch the surface."

"No. We are making an impact, Damian. The circle just doesn't want to let the citizens know that they are affected by the rebel attacks. But I know that our attacks weakened the city's financial reserves. They are diverting budgets to the CBD to strengthen the army."

"This is going to be war, kid. And you play an important role here. You are the center of everything. Your success is our success."

"Not only that, my need to elevate to the topmost rank is to gain leverage inside the Corporation. It's another story. Somehow, the fall of the Government does not mean that the Corporation will fall too. As Menks controlled the Corporation, he could still manipulate everything. So, I need to take down Menks."