Weeks quickly passed as the citizens underwent a new training program in Ravens Camp. With their nonstop physical and mental states pushed to the brink, these weeks eventually turned into months quicker before they could register the changes around them. Before they knew it, their past experiences had become forgotten as intended.

  “Guys, this Batch 77 is a problem.”

  Carmelo pounded his fist onto the basin, causing water to erupt everywhere. As they neared their book-out timing, Batch 123 had to quickly wash up their soiled clothes before leaving Ravens Camp for home.

  “Why did you have to do that, asshole?!” Furious by the water splashing on him, Bronston retaliated by slapping Carmelo on the head.

  “Not my head, you’re gonna make me dumber!”

  “You’re already a dumbass! One more smack wouldn’t make a difference.”

  “Say that again, you idiot musclehead!”

  “Guys.” Like the voice of reason, Neptune’s voice silenced the dissent. “Don’t overcomplicate matters. Let’s just finish up the washing and call it a week.”

  “...Fine,” Carmelo grunted.

  Bronston turned his basin upside down before looking over at Neptune. “Do you know who is in this Batch 77?”

  Even though he didn’t feel like talking about them, Neptune forced himself to respond. “I have no clue, but someone always seemed to score higher than me, even on the theory tests.”

  “We gotta go smoke 'em out.” Bronston nodded his head as Batch 123 copied suit.

  “Good idea, we can send Bronston over to beat the crap out of them,” Dom suggested.

  “You know what? Second place is good enough for us. Let’s not bother with them too much…” Shrugging his shoulders, Neptune forced himself to smile as a recent memory resurfaced.

  Neptune isolated a lone voice from the noise when checking the scoreboard that day. For some strange reason, the voice’s owner did not seem to be in a celebratory mood–perhaps attaining the top spot did not satisfy, or worse, mattered least to him. As the boy slowly turned his head ever so lightly toward his direction, everything made sense instantly.

  “No wonder. How could I ever compete with a–”

  *

  “Big brother, can I have an additional dollar?” Jupiter pulled at his big brother’s shirt with a sulk.

  “Hmm? I thought I gave you enough.” Neptune knew dementia was an impossibility for his age and was proud of his ability to memorise the prices of goods sold in this weekend’s farmers market.

  “Big bro…The price went up,” Jupiter pointed at the price display. “Everything else also went up this week. You can ask Mommy! When we went to the supermarket the other day, everything went to the moon!”

  “Oh…”

  Neptune traced his brother's finger and handed over the dollar note after inspecting the other items on sale. His little brother was right.

  “...Damn, a price hike.” Looking beside him, he realised his other brother had disappeared. “Jupiter, where is Pluto?”

  “Pluto is with Mommy. Let’s go join them!” Proud of his haul, Jupiter raised his grilled mackerel on a stick to the skies and ran away.

  “Wait–slow down, Jupiter!”

  Neptune struggled to catch up with his sore legs until he made a sharp turn at the corner.

  “Ah, there you are…?”

  What greeted him was his mother talking to someone publicly, subconsciously triggering his goosebumps to stand.

  “Neptune, perfect timing!” Ops handed a big bag of groceries to her son.

  “If you don’t mind, I would like you to bring your brothers home along with this.”

  “Big brother!” Pluto called out to his elder brother.

  “Pluto! Oh, erm…Sure, Mom.”

  Ops noticed her son staring blankly at her friend. “My son, is something wrong? You don’t look good.”

  “Mom, I–”

  “Is this your eldest son, Ops?” The woman with an almighty presence asked.

  “Yes.”

  With her luscious black hair tied in a ponytail and a cute top hat featuring crochets of tropical fruits, his mother’s friend exuded the dignified grace of a lady. No, calling her a lady was an understatement. The contrast of her attire with the other citizens was like night and day. Her speech pattern was pristine, and each alphabet had a distinct, precise pronunciation behind it. And the way she stood confidently exuded supreme dominance and authority over everyone. It was like an Ascended leaving their enclave to bless those who served under them on rare occasions.

  The lady tilted her head, but her sapphire eyes never once blinked throughout the exchange, triggering Neptune’s sweat to trickle down his temple. “Is something the matter, young man?”

  Suddenly, two bodyguards with loud, heavy footsteps approached the lady.

  “Ma’am. Is everything okay?”

  “This boy is my friend’s son. You can just carry on watching me from afar.”

  With a deep bow, the two big, burly bodyguards returned to their respective positions.

  “My name is Alexis,” Alexis offered a handshake with a smile, her pearly whites reflecting the sun’s brilliant rays. “Your mother and I are old friends who haven’t met for a long time. It truly is such a shame. We should have at least met for some tea when time permits.”

  “I believe my mother has told you all about me,” Neptune accepted the tight-gripped handshake.

  Ouch, that hurts.

  “Well, well. A nice handshake that you have over there,” Alexis tilted her head gracefully. “You truly take after your father.”

  “Within his peripheral vision, his mother tensed up to avoid his gaze.

  “I’ll make a move now. Hope you two have a great time catching up.” Like a thief fleeing into the night, Neptune knew he had to escape. No. He had to leave now.

  “See you later, son.”

  His mother still could not meet his gaze.

  “Pluto. Jupiter. We’re going.”

  “But, big–”

  “We’ll see each other soon, Neptune.” Alexis waved goodbye before turning to his mother. “Let’s have some tea, Ops. Would you prefer Matcha or Houjicha at the…”

  Unaware of himself, clenching his brothers’ hands, Neptune had unwillingly dragged them out of the market to catch a breather, clearing that unbearable lump in his throat. The voices of his kin failed to reach him as he spiralled down into the abyss, drowning his thoughts in a sea of anxiety.

  “Hey, it hurts…”

  “Yes, big bro…”

  *

  Bray sat on his bed to “doom-scroll” through his phone, looking for something to pass his time. He knew he would find nothing interesting there but did it to pass the time. His lips parted to speak words that carried no weight. “I wonder why the speakers haven’t announced today’s Routine Order (RO) yet.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Dom sat on the bunk floor playing a game of chess with Finn, seemingly to pass the time.

  ”Your move, Finn.”

  “What a dirty move…”

  “Say you, Mr. Prince…”

  Unlike his idiotic batchmates passing their time, Neptune stared at the ceiling, thinking of the optimal strategy. As thoughts floated through his mind, he realised he had not interacted with his female batchmates for a month. Perhaps due to the intensive training in Physical Education (PE), his mind drifted away from thoughts regarding the opposite gender. He knew they were safe when he saw buses depart from another section of Ravens Camp toward the exit. He knew both genders were equally essential in wars, especially with the United Atlantea Federation’s current plight, their population problem.

  Even though the three regions of Atlantea had united under the same flag, not every citizen shared the same sentiment. The merger only benefited the survivors of North Atlantea, whereas countless citizens from their neighbouring regions had to step up to bail them out of the mess they created. The GEP & PE program also reignited the tension between the three Atlantean nations, with their neighbours having different cultural beliefs regarding raising their youth under their respective communities instead of a centralised authority dictating the education curricula.

  “Guys, I’m going to the washroom. I’ll catch you guys in the hallway in a minute.”

  Stepping into the hallway, the emptiness felt unreal.

  Where’s everyone?

  Dead silence filled the hallways at 0830 hours. He then went round the corner to enter the toilet and brush his teeth.

  “Oh, yo, Good Mornin’!” A fellow trainee greeted him upon entering the toilet.

  Neptune gargled water before spitting the contents into the sink to address the trainee, “Morning.” Realising this trainee was from another batch, he decided to try his luck. “Did they miss today’s RO?”

  “Oh! That’s because it's measurement recording day!” The trainee splashed his face with water and wiped it off with his towel. “The Administrator will summon us by batch to take measurements.”

  “I presume today is ‘Free & Easy’ until then?”

  “Yup! You can go to the parade square to play games. Or else, you can head to the library,” The trainee laughed while using his towel to wipe his face, “I have a batchmate there; don’t ask me why because I don’t know why he’s there. My friends are playing ball now, though. Do you wanna join us?”

  “No thanks, I’ll pass.” Neptune knew a more enticing offer existed. “Where’s this library?”

  “At the North Wing, straight up ahead. It’s hard to miss it, so you probably wouldn’t get lost.” The trainee placed the towel around his shoulders and began stretching. “Before I forget. What’s your name?”

  “Neptune Smith.”

  “Nice name you have there. Neptune, huh? That’s the name of the mythical sea god!” The trainee’s eyes began sparkling. “My name is John. Nice to meet you, god of the seas!”

  “Hey, stop that.” Neptune took John’s hand to lower it. “You only salute a commissioned officer, not a wannabe sea god.”

  “I learned something new today.”

  “You would have downed ten here if you tried this with someone else.”

  “Oh yeah? My commander hasn’t taught us anything about that, though.”

  “Commander? Mine only exchanges a couple of one-liners before she runs off to perform her other duties.”

  John tilted his head curiously. “You don’t have an active commander?”

  “What’s that? An active commander? What do you mean by that?”

  “Oh, I mean somebody that actively checks up on you.”

  “Nah, I could count with my fingers the number of times my commander has checked up on us.”

  Speaking of commanders, Neptune realised he had only seen Lieutenant Reynolds once a week when booking out. As for Captain Graves, that man was nowhere to be seen. Except for a few times, he bumped into him at the dining hall.

  John began laughing at Neptune’s nonchalantly flat tonality.

  “Wait.”

  “What’s up?”

  “I wanted to ask you which batch you’re from, but let’s save it for another time.”

  “Alright, ciao, Neptune!”

  *

  From the exterior, the Ravens Camp Library had the architectural design of a famous formula. The exterior framework responds to the golden ratio: thirty marble blocks run across the face of the building–ten run vertically and twenty run along its depth–representing the ratio 3:1:2. Surrounding this work of art was a garden filled with flowers, represented by different species and colours, in full bloom, further adding a grand feeling toward the impressive design of this compound within this soul-crushing mega camp facility.

  Taking a step into the library after marvelling at this glorious art piece from afar, his mouth widened in admiration, soaking in the beauty that captured his heart as the door swung wide open with a simple push.

  “...Woah.”

  The inner walls of the library gave off a radiant aura, channelling the sun’s rays from outside to transform them into the natural light used to illuminate the interior without modern electricity infrastructure. The complete silence, mixed with natural lighting, created an extraterrestrial experience. The librarians shuffled along the halls carrying out their tasks, only stopping to greet the lone visitor by bowing their heads in silence.

  No directories, signs, or legends exist in the library. Neptune realised he could only look for books based on the first letter in the titles. Naturally, the first letter that popped into his mind was that one. On instinct alone, he automatically walked to that column.

  Found it.

  Without making a sound, a librarian appeared beside him, handing him a paper that read: “If you wish to look for a specific book, kindly inform me. I will use the ladder to retrieve it for you.”

  “My apologies. Are we allowed to speak in here?” Unsure of the acceptable voice level, Neptune spoke in his softest tone.

  “Of course. However, please keep it to a minimum. There are other trainees here who would appreciate us maintaining the silence.” The librarian whispered.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure that there were other people here with us.”

  “Yes, there is another trainee just like yourself. He is completely immersed in his studies as we speak. Are you looking for something in particular?”

  “Yes,” Swallowing nervously, he became unsure if the librarian would take his prompt seriously. But he had to try. “Are there books on the New Atlantis here?”

  The librarian scanned the nominal roll from the file she carried. “Yes, we have books on that topic here. Please follow me.”

  Neptune followed the librarian as she guided the way to another massive pillar that pierced the skies above.

  “Give me a moment. Please wait for me here.” The librarian whispered before disappearing into the sea of printed paper. She then emerged as quickly as she left. “I’m back, trainee.”

  “You nearly scared me.” He did not know librarians could float like ghosts.

  “My apologies, trainee. It’s a habit.”

  The librarian returned with a stepladder smaller than her frame. Its original length collapsed into a small compact size for carrying around in the library. Neptune instinctively stepped aside.

  “…Thank you.”

  The librarian slowly ascended to the top to retrieve a book from the pillar before slowly retracing. With each step she took back to the ground level, his temperature rose as his heart thumped harder at the moment of truth as the book landed in his hands.

  “Here you go, trainee.”

  A defeated smile formed on his face, one constructed out of the despair he carried. He stared at the book’s cover momentarily before reading the title out loud angrily.

  “New Atlantis…Francis Bacon. You got to be kidding me!”

  The librarian looked at her visitor sternly, poking him in the chest.

  “Mr. trainee, if you do not heed my warning, I will not hesitate to have security escort you out of the library. Please remember that other people are here studying in solitude. Your selfish actions are unsatisfactory behaviour of a soldier.”

  “Sorry...” Sheepishly apologising, he half-assed the word vomit.

  “We have another copy of the book with your keywords, but I believe someone else here has borrowed it.”

  Neptune blinked once before raising his head in disbelief. “Sorry, you said someone else borrowed it?”

  “Yes, you might have to–”

  Like a ghost, a boy appeared beside the librarian without a sound, let alone an opening for anyone to register.

  “Miss Librarian. Thank you for the assistance today.” Unlike the North Atlantean’s casual speech patterns, the boy spoke with a peculiar, dignified tone he found strangely familiar.

  “Oh, you are welcome, trainee. Are you here to return your book?” The librarian bowed to the boy respectfully.

  “Thank you, but I’m not. I would like to apply for a loan permit.” The boy responded with a pleasant tone and posture that carried the unmistakable demeanour of one born into nobility.

  “Give me a moment…” The librarian hurried to the administrative office at the corner of the majestic library after retrieving the book from the boy.

  Neptune jerked in surprise as he stared obsessively at the boy unblinkingly.

  “My apologies, but I believe you were looking for the book I borrowed. That’s just an inference from my end.” The boy spoke indifferently, without empathy for a lesser being, as he finally addressed the other odd soul in the library.

  “What brings you to research the New Atlantis?” Stunned by the boy’s acknowledgement of his existence, Neptune unknowingly mouthed his response in awe. His mind spiralled into chaos like he had come face to face with God.

  The boy squinted his eyes. At that moment, the sun’s beam shone from the skies, blanketing him in the sun’s magnificent rays as it cast a long, dark shadow on the library’s floor.

  “That’s a good question.”

  “My name is Neptune Smith.” Neptune felt the need to introduce himself as he caught the boy enlarging his sapphire eyes oddly.

  “Smith, you say?”

  Neptune noticed the boy’s earlier dismissive tone changing to one of intrigue.

  “...Is there a problem?”

  The boy’s expression grew more tense. He started looking around frantically, seemingly wanting the librarian to return with his loan application.

  “Interesting.”

  “What’s so interesting?”

  “I believe coincidences are part of the universe. And for one not to live without considering the possibilities of synchronicity is truly a sad reality.”

  After methodically closing his eyes, the boy lifted his head to the library’s massive ceiling.

  “If you want this book, I will hand it over to you on Friday morning, just before we book out.”