The Rise Of The Consortium

She could tell what kind of drama will brew up now. She tapped yes thinking about it. As soon as she tapped, the process ended on the screen and her device turned on. A magenta light illuminated out of the tiny circular screen, showing her the profile.

Name, NewUser064. Status, not available.

It didn't show any other information. But it showed a clock that said it was going to be midday. There was a tip at the end of the page with tiny letters that read as 'The time left for this device to shut down is 6 days 23 hours 58 minutes 27 seconds. Complete the process of registration to avoid the losses.'

She sighed looking at the notice. The situation felt like coming back to the same point again. Where would she find all of those proofs again? She had no idea if any of those were in her home.

The screen blinked with a notice stating the price for registration is 1000 COE. That's about 80000 COH. What? How does one earn 80,000 coins in a week? Her heart got uneasy just looking at it. Never in her life, she had seen such an amount of money. And how is she supposed to get that much? She was slowly getting mad thinking about the possibility until she saw the list of jobs she had to do to get money.

There was a list of places to clean the silver dust. She grunted wondering how much dust she would have to clean. She looked at the list again with her brows furrowed. The price was of hundreds of COH. And the time taken was about a couple of hours. What was there in that dust that takes hours to do? With her nepgimet spray, she can do that in minutes. Also, such a great amount. Where was it then? Is it not in her city?

But she has to get the certificates first. Kner has to give it to her. She can't lose the device again. It's been a while since she had been in that cabin. So, one does get the device, but it takes a ridiculous amount of money. She would have to tell that girl to try it.

As she thought, Tenirie was waiting in the queue that barely moved a bit. Rio tried to get her attention, but as if she was lost in deep thoughts, her eyes were fixated on the floor. Rio moved her wrist briskly for her eyes to catch it. But it caught someone else's attention instead. A boy in front of her got the message and lightly nudged Tenirie who suddenly looked at Rio. Rio waved her hands at her and motioned her towards the cabin. The girl clapped her hands and almost jumped, making others alert. Rio was shocked. She quickly motioned her hands at her to stop acting like that. She motioned towards her in a way to say, 'Don't get us killed'. Tenirie quickly understood and apologized and got quiet for a moment. She gave a thumbs-up to Rio to which she smiled. She waved at her as couldn't stand there anymore. There were a lot of things to tell her, but she thought she would figure it out anyway.

She thought she should go to the exchange center once. Who knows they might have any idea about what to do. It wasn't much of a hassle to get there. Occasionally her eyes would wander around the vehicles nearby. She wondered if she could get one. She searched through her device on her wrist to see the price. The first thing that popped up was the news feed. Up in the headlines was Kner's photo. Along with it, it read, 'The Chairman' s prince goes invisible again'. What does this suppose to mean? Before she could click on it to read it, a pop up showed on the screen with a warning, '50/50 searches left'. So cl.i.c.k.i.n.g on that article might be a loss for her. She decided to save that for later. She wanted to know the price of various vehicles, so that's what she searched for instead.

The lowest price for a simple bike was about a few thousand COR. Her eyes went wide. She almost spat out, 'It's ridiculous! '. If a bike costs about this then what might be the price of a well-designed car? A million COR?

To her horror, the price of the latest luxurious car was about ten million COR. 'IT'S RIDICULOUS!' People around her stared at her. It took her a moment to realize that she just screamed in public. She felt ashamed of her childishness and quickly walked towards street five.

It made her think about such a price of the vehicles. Either the technology would be trash or the materials. She felt like she has to know the reason. There is not enough money to have that. But can she just keep walking like that? For how long?

Another pop up showed that read, 'Public vehicles activate after 50x work experience. Finish any 50 tasks to avail public transport!' Well, it's not that bad. If it's for a single user then it's great.

She reached the exchange center behind the cafe, where there was another employee instead of the one she saw a couple of days ago. She was looking at the TV screen on the wall that played a news bulletin.

"Excuse me. I need help," said Rio. She noticed the employee had pink hair and was completely engrossed with whatever was playing on the TV. Rio had to knock on the desk to get her attention.

" Sorry, is there anything I can help you with? "she wasn't still done with looking at the screen.

"Yes. Actually, my card got burnt and so I got this new palm-reader," said Rio placing her burnt card on the desk. "I want to know how do I get my money back from there."

The employee observed the card. Then she looked at Rio's device on the wrist. "Is this your first one?"

"Yeah. I had this card before," said Rio.

"Didn't you get one on your 18th birthday?" asked the employee, twirling the card in her hand.

"No," said Rio, thinking about whether this was a thing. What happened on her 18th birthday after all? Wasn't her mother supposed to give one? Is this why the machine asked for the unique code at the end of the registration?

"Then hurry up, and get your doc.u.ments soon." said the employee in a little alarmed voice. "This thing won't run more than a week." her eyes shine bright as she spoke.

"Yeah, I know." Rio stared at the ground, trying to think of words to ask her the right question. "Do I have to get the docs?"

"Of course! Do you think you'd get work without those?" the employee turned to look at the screen again. "Well, most places just want your device on your wrist. Rarely anyone cares about whether you have proofs or not" said the employee placing the card back at the desk. " But you'd need when your work is not satisfied with the shop owners. They'd be searching for your docs to look at where did you come from."

"How does get one from the Manings?" Rio said in a low voice. She felt a pair of eyes looking at her. She turned to see the employee who looked at her as if she had done a big mistake.

"Well, in that case, you have to keep trying." the employee looked away from her. "I'm sorry you had to work there." her voice felt sad. "Sometimes I wonder if it's the elders or the children. But I swear the elder son looks innocent." said the employee in a dreamy voice.

"In that case, I need to meet him," said Rio preparing to leave. Just then her eyes fell on the screen. The same news flashed on the screen as well.

'Rionora Tarnilier is ruining my son's life: Mrs. Maning' flashed other headlines. Rio's eyes narrowed as she saw the news. She rolled her eyes as she looked at the employee who just kept looking at the screen and her face. The screen showed her picture along with Kner's fine suited one.

"Aren't you that girl?" the employee asked shakily pointing at the screen.

"But there's no proof for that," said Rio cheerily. Say all you want to Kner, but the truth is well known to you. The Rio you used to know is burnt. Whatever you're trying to say is just a joke.

She left the exchange center and thought for a moment where she should head to now. She wants the certificate of her internship as well as the nepgimet spray. She won't be getting the spray at his home. She has to get to his office anyway.

She could go either way to get to the street three. But one thing that bugged her a lot was why one can't drive oppositely. She clenched her teeth and brought her wrist closer to her, trying to search for a memo. She wrote a few things to keep in mind. Getting the docs, getting a car, the ridiculous rule of not being able to walk oppositely. She thought about what else she should note. Her mother's illness, the silver swirl, the severance. How could she forget those? She hadn't done reading them all.

Soon she reached the street three, the street of factories. Taking a deep breath, she walked quickly to reach the Manings factory. Today I'll get my docs and the spray, even if he kills me. She suddenly thought what had happened after her head was slammed on the table. She didn't even know who did that.

As usual, the gate was closed without any guards. But it didn't open as she tried herself. A mechanical voice spoke from one of the pillars, 'Identity required'. The voice repeated as Rio pushed the gates more. She felt it fun doing so. When she felt tired, she let her watch-like device being scanned under the system in the pillar.

'Guest identified'. The gates opened as soon as the voice finished saying. She headed to the same front way to the office as she had been to the previous day. She found the entrance door to be locked again. There was no way to push the door, so she put her wrist under the scanner to let her in.

'Access denied'. The mechanical voice spoke from the door.

What do you mean by access denied? Can I just not walk into it? I'm an authorized user anyway.

She forgot that sometimes the scanner had trouble with identification, so there was an alternative to enter the details. She searched for the keyboard that usually was kept hidden from the view.

It has to be somewhere near the scanner. And there it was, dusty and neglected, she pulled out and typed her name and her enrollment number. As soon she hit enter, it spoke again, 'Access denied'.

"What's the meaning of this?" shouted Rio at the door. "I used to work here and now I can't get in. What's the problem Mr. Kner Maning?"

'Access denied'. She hit the door when she heard it speak. "What have I done? At least tell me once!" she punched the door as she felt fed up with the ways she is being treated. Is the word against him spread in the city? "You still have to answer me! I'm not going anywhere until you meet me! Coward!" the door opened as she shouted. A lady in a lab coat appeared with a clipboard in her hand.

"Any help, Miss.."

"Tarnilier" finished her words grumpily.

"Yes, Miss Tarnilier" the lady realized who was she talking to as soon as she took her name.

"Why am I not allowed there?" Rio motioned towards the entrance door.

"I'm afraid you're the same Rio Tarn…"

"Yes, I'm the one. The one on the screen." Rio grunted at her. "Where's your boss?"

"He...he's not in the city. Out of..for…for good health." the lady shook as she said.

"Coward!" Rio gritted through her teeth. "Well, I just want my certificate and a bottle of spray, tell me where is that."

"I..I…. I don't know," she spoke hiding her face from Rio.

"Then who does know?" Rio spat at her.

"It's known to the boss." the lady fell on her knees as she couldn't bend anymore.

"I don't care. Give me what I want right now," said Rio in a cold voice.

The lady started crying. "I don't know. I can't give." she whimpered as she said.

That made Rio mad. She ran towards the door and slammed it hard. In return, it beeped loudly. The siren was awful to the ears.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! I'M IN DANGER!" screamed the lady. Rio glanced at her who was looking at her tearfully.

"You don't seem to be giving away my thing, right?" Rio said in a low voice, looking at the door. "OK. I have a way to get what I want," said Rio, crossing her arms. "And I'll have it anyway." she walked out of the gate looking at the door and the lady kneeling on the floor.