KYLE’S P.O.V,
Michael''s house, 8:15 A.M.
Conrad and I have only 1 week left to complete the restoration of the Adastra spacecraft. After the restorations are complete, our plans to save the EX-5 will be fully set into motion.
I''d just gotten myself out of the shower and was making my way downstairs for breakfast. Amelia was trying out some new recipe, something else than the usual pancakes. Whatever it was, you could easily smell it from the 3rd floor.
Once I was on the ground floor I made my way towards the kitchen.
Amelia was at the stove, scrambling what looked to be a bunch of eggs.
Simultaneously, she was also trying to brown the underside of some biscuits on another pan.
“Do you need some help with that?” I asked.
“No no,” she said, waving off my offer. “I was not hired to do a bad job at making breakfast”
“Okay then,” I said, raising my arms jokingly.
“And besides,” she said, “I was also hired to help protect the Carlin family, which is much harder to do than this”
“I''ve probably asked this a bunch of times, but what were the other reasons you were hired?”
“When I retired as head of security,” Amelia said, flipping the eggs, “Pruitt needed someone to watch Michael when he was little, since then I''ve been the one to raise him…”
“Anyhow, this is about done. You can go ahead and take a seat at the table.” She said,
I nodded and went into the dining room and took a seat at the table, once I sat down took a drink out of the cold glass of water that was at my spot.
Soon enough Amelia walked out holding 2 plates of what she had made. It was a sandwich, with eggs, sausage, I think, and a healthy amount of cheese put between 2 toasted biscuits.
She set the plate down in front of me and then sat down in her chair across from me.
“Why don''t you make these more often?” I asked.
“Michael only cares for blueberry pancakes. Whenever I make anything else for breakfast he is disinterested, well the only exception to that was the time I made blueberry muffins.”
“He sure likes blueberries, I''ll give you that.” I said.
“Yea, but the only thing he likes more than blueberries is you,” she said with a chuckle.
“Huh?” I said, and I shot my head up, blushing.
“When he met you and Lucas, He was so much happier. He wouldn''t stop talking about you guys, how he''d finally gotten actual friends. But whenever he talked about you in particular… He would always get this starry eyed look, like he enjoyed the thought of you.”
At this point I struggled not to blush even more, and I''m sure Amelia could notice.
“This reminds me, when your done eating, there is something I need to give to you”
“Okay,” I said, avoiding eye contact with her. I picked up the sandwich and started to hastily eat it. I thought it tasted alright, but I wouldn''t call it my new favorite food.
By the time I looked up when I was done, Amelia had already eaten her whole sandwich.
“How did you-” I asked in confusion..
“Chewing is optional,” she said jokingly before getting up from the table.
She took the plates and went back to the kitchen. I got up and followed her because I was curious about the gift she had talked about.
Amelia just finished washing the dishes before she noticed me. “Okay you stay there, I''ll be right back.” She said.
She darted out of the kitchen and I didn''t have a clue as to where she went or what she was going to bring back.
After a couple moments went by she came running back into the kitchen holding a folded hoodie.
“Michael wanted me to give this to you once it started to get cold in the mornings,” she said.
She handed me Michael''s favorite hoodie. It was a black color that was covered in different star constellations, and on the back of the hoodie was written M. CARLIN in large white letters.
“He said he hoped it would remind you of him while he was away,” Amelia said.
The hoodie was 3 or 4 sizes too big for me, but the gesture for me was more than enough to enjoy wearing it.
“The forecast said today was a bit chilly, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring it out for you” Amelia said.
“..Thank You,” I told her, “I appreciate this.”
I unfolded the hoodie and held it out in front of me.
“Why don''t you put it on?” Amelia asked me.
“I don''t see why not,” I said before flipping the hoodie upside down.
I pulled it over my head and put my arms through the sleeves. Fully on me, the bottom of the hoodie went all the way down to my knees.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I would point out it''s too big,” Amelia said, “but something tells me you aren''t bothered by that.”
“I''m not, it''s actually pretty comfortable.” I told her.
“You don''t look too bad in it,” she said.
“Thanks, I think I''ll have to roll the sleeves up though,” I said as the ends of the sleeves flopped around lifelessly.
The hoodie was so big it was kinda like wearing a light blanket.
The fact it doesn''t fit makes a lot of sense when you consider Michael is over 203cm (6’8) tall, while I''m only 165cm (5’5) tall. Because of this I never really wear Michael''s clothes, I''m just way too small. On the bright side, it''s hard to get laundry mixed up.
“So, when do you plan on getting into work?” Amelia asked.
“before 9:30” I said, glancing at the kitchen clock.
The kitchen clock said it was 8:56, so it would probably be best if I left soon.
“I''ll be heading out here in a minute or so,” I said.
“Alright, please drive safely, Mr. Raymond.” Amelia said as she resumed washing the dishes.
“That''s not a bad idea,” I chuckled, “Alright then, see you!” I turned around and made my way to the garage.
I opened the garage door, and slowly the door crept its way upwards.
The sun was sitting right over the distant tree line, shining brightly into the garage. I did my best to shield my eyes from the sun as I went to the car.
I opened the car door and quickly hopped inside. Without wasting a second, I hit the ignition and back out of the garage.
The garage door closed as I turned the car to go down to the highway.
20 minutes later, at the Carlin Space Agency
I turned off the highway and pulled into the staff parking at the Carlin space complex. For the last few days, there have been more and more cars showing up since everything was shut down.
It hasn''t been released to the public yet, but the company has already started to resume its previous operations, albeit with many changes made.
Among some of the changes, the amount of security personnel has also increased exponentially.
In my opinion this is poor use of company money, but what am I to say about that since I will be stealing a spaceship here in a week.
Once I got to my parking space, I stopped and got out of the car.
A swift breeze hit my visor, which stung quite a bit. If half my visor wasn''t cracked like an old sidewalk, it would be much easier to tolerate the wind.
I hustled my way to the entrance, where I was met by a large security guard.
The guard took my ID card and scanned it. After a couple seconds, the scanner buzzed with a green light.
He turned around and unlocked the door and let me into the building.
I quickly made my way through the hall. I had to do a couple more minutes of walking, but eventually I turned my way to the hanger corridor.
Before I entered the storage hanger, I took a quick look down both ends of the hallway, akin to that of the paranoid.
There was nobody else in the hall, hopefully. And as for security cameras, I had to hope no one thought twice.
Opened the one of the large metal doors and slid my way into the hanger.
I found Conrad in the hanger, and he was frantically pacing back and fourth near the Adastra''s wing.
“Is everything okay?” I called out from across the hanger.
“No!” He yelled back to me.
“What happened?” I asked, running over to him.
“My dad,” he said, shaking his head. “He''s getting curious..”
“What did he do?” I asked.
“He told me to keep an eye on you, And to report to him if I found you doing anything suspicious.” He said, still pacing.
“Just don''t tell Pruitt anything,” I said.
“How am I gonna keep my mouth shut!” He yelled, “He is going to find out about this sooner or la-” He stopped mid rant.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “That hoodie looks familiar…”
I froze. I completely forgot I was wearing Michael’s hoodie.
“Turn around,” he said.
“Huh?” I asked in confusion.
“Turn. Around.” He demanded.
“Okay okay!” I said.
I turned around so Conrad could look at the rest of the hoodie. I could hear an audible gasp as he read the name on the hoodie.
“How did y- Where did you even get that!”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I turned back around to face him.
“Why the fuck are you wearing my brothers hoodie!”
“A-Amelia gave it to me!” I said defensively. “She said it was a gift from Michael!”
“You were at the house?” He asked, slowly stepping towards me.
“Amelia lets me stay there-” I said, stepping backwards.
“Explain right now.” Conrad said.
“Well my parents forces me to move out so I asked around and-” I said stammering, “And Amelia and Michael said I could stay there-”
“What guest room are you staying in then? I never heard about anyone else staying at the house” He said, yet again confused. (Authors note: Conrad sleeps and lives at the Carlin Space Agency)
I stared at Conrad blankly, I was unable to say anything to him, nothing would come out of my mouth.
“Kyle…” He said, slowly stepping towards me again. “Where are you staying!” he said menacingly.
I tried to say something but I choked on my words.
Suddenly Conrad stopped stepping towards me. “You''re not sleeping with.. Michael, are you?”
“I um uh-” I said, further stumbling on something to say.
“You''re sleeping with my brother, aren''t you!” He said, “That would explain why you care so much about him!”
“...Okay, fine!” I snapped back, “yes we are in a relationship!” I said, looking him in the eye.
Conrad pulled himself back, “gahh, kyle!” He said, putting his hands on his visor. “I understand we''ve never been on great terms until last week, but a quick heads up that YOU WERE DATING MY BROTHER would have been a little nice to know!”
“Well I had thought he would have told you-” I said to Conrad.
“Look, Kyle,” He said, “Michael and I have barely acknowledged each other for the last 10 years… The only thing we have in common now is the fact we work for our dad,” Conrad said, slowing his pacing to a stop.
“Then why are you doing all this?” I asked him.
Conrad shot me a curious glance when I said this.
“Why are you risking your life for a brother you barely know? Risking your guaranteed chance to take over the agency when Pruitt retires.. I said, deepening my tone.
“Don''t take me as someone who doesn''t care for my brother, because I do care,” He said, “And my personal reasons for helping you are none of your business.”
Conrad is refusing to tell me something… Even after all I''ve just told him, he''s still hiding something.
Whatever it is he is hiding, I''d like to find out what it is. It''s out of character for him to suddenly want to help me on something like this.
Right before the EX-6 took off… Conrad said that he had a disagreement with Avera.
Could that have something to do with this? Making something right with her?
Gah, this is just leading to more questions. Questions I don''t know how to answer.
“We need to trust each other if we are going to succeed in saving the EX-5. And in order to do that, I need to know why you are helping me.” I said to Conrad, who had already started pacing back and forth again.
Side note, I''ve noticed when Michael and Conrad get stressed, they walk back and forth the exact same way. It''s kinda funny and adorable if I''m being honest.
Conrad opened his mouth to speak but suddenly stopped.
“It''s just… I wasn''t counting on sharing these things with everyone until later, I know it''s hypocritical of me after everything you''ve said, but I had this all planned out in my head,” He said, “If only she''d said yes..”
“Who?” I asked him.
“I asked Avera if she would-” Conrad said, getting cutoff.
A echoed beeping noise danced about the hanger.
“Is that my phone?” Conrad said with a concerned look.
“I think it might be,” I said.
“Ah, shit!” Conrad said frantically as he began to run to get to his phone.
He ran to the back corner of the hanger. We''d set up a table in the back as a break spot and a place to manage the adastra''s restoration.
Conrad swipes his phone off the table and looked at the screen, “Ah fudge it''s my dad, I told him I was in the assembly building supervising the workers there,” he said.
Conrad reluctantly answered his phone and put it on speakerphone.
“I need you to find that Raymond kid again, he''s probably hanging out somewhere in the hanger building,” Pruitt said on the phone.
“A- Okay I''ll get him-” Conrad said, glancing back at me.
“I need both of you in my office immediately, Goodbye.” Pruitt ended the call as quickly as it had started.
“What''s with him all of a sudden?” I asked.
This really isn''t what Amelia had described. He wasn''t being oblivious, he was acting like he knew what was happening.
“We can''t dodge this bullet,” Conrad said, “We need to go see him.”
“I guess so.” I said.
“Before we go, take that hoodie off and leave it here.”
“That might not be a bad idea,” I said, and I began to work the hoodie over my head.
“My dad gave Michael and I matching hoodies with our names on them as a gift one year, and if my dad saw you wearing that he''d probably kill you..”
“Well that''s not at all concerning-” I said, Carefully setting the hoodie on the table.
“Alright let''s go,” Conrad said, turning for the door.
The two of us went up the corridor of the hanger building.
After like 10 minutes of walking, we entered the office building.
Whereas most of the Carlin Space Complex (The property the space agency is located) Is dedicated to hangers and other industrial buildings, there is still a small portion that is dedicated to offices. It''s on the farther end of the property which makes it a long walk to get to.
We hopped on an elevator that took us to the top floor of the building.
It was an awkward 40 seconds, neither of us knew what awaited us when we got to Pruitt’s office.
The elevator dinged and stopped at the 7th floor of the office.
The elevator opened to a short and narrow hallway. The hallway ended with 2 fancy doors, guarded by a security agent.
We slowly walked down the brightly lit hallway, until we stopped short of the door.
The security guard let us through without question because of Conrads high security clearance.
Pruitt’s office was a large square room, and the back wall was made entirely of windows that overlooked most of the complex.
In Front of the windows sat a large desk with a large brown protogen sitting behind it.
Pruitt Carlin.
“Would you like us to take a seat?” Asked Conrad as we approached the desk.
“No no, this will be quick.” Pruitt said, “Mr. Raymond, I do understand your concern for the tragic loss of the EX-5''s crew, it''s affected us all, just think, I''ve lost my son.” He said.
“But right now for you to help, I''ll need you to stop messing around in the hangar building. If you do not heed my direct advice, there will be consequences. I''m not sure what those consequences might be, but I''ll assure you it will happen if you don''t listen.”
I can understand Pruitt’s message clearly. He''s out to stop me from succeeding with my plan. I don''t know why, but he''s out for me.
“That will be all I have to share with you, Mr. Raymond.” Pruitt said. “I would recommend you head downstairs and begin to familiarize yourself with the EX-6 mission alongside the other ground control staff.” Pruitt said, staring at me without much emotion.
Conrad took this as our que to leave, and we both turned around.
“Stay, Conrad.” Pruitt ordered. “There is MUCH more I''d like to discuss with you.” He said, sounding as serious as ever.
I continued for the door, and I glanced back at Pruitt and Conrad. Pruitt had already began to angrily berate Conrad.
I didn''t stay in the room long enough to hear what it was about, but it didn''t sound very kind.
I pushed through the door and reluctantly made my way to the elevator. Hopefully Conrad will get out of that office unscathed as I had just done.