Celeste

Today it was raining, no dome of protection over the city. The rain wasn’t going to kill anyone, but it wasn’t as pleasant as people would expect. It got dark, and the water was heavy. People held umbrellas as they walked around.

Celeste and Zinnia were walking together under a clear umbrella, both of them in their uniforms for work.

Zinnia was a noticeable young woman with bright red hair down to her shoulders.

Celeste almost hoped that other people were more noticeable than she was. She never paraded who she was as she was growing up. She didn't think people needed to know that her father was Head of Defense.

So when Zinnia was the spot light of the room, Celeste would sit back and watch.

It was just easier.

Now that they were heading towards the Capitol building, Celeste tensed up a bit. She used to be here a lot more when she was younger, but as she got older she cut down on her visits. She has to admit that's it's been a long time since she's considered walking inside.

But she had plans today.

Dri was waiting.

“Hi, Dri.” Zinnia said politely and waved at him.

Celeste remained quiet as she smiled. She couldn't describe her crush on Dri, well it was much more than a crush at this point. Her eyes always lit up when she saw him.

“Coming with us today?” He asked Zinnia, but he noticed the way Celeste was looking at him. He had to hide his glances at her.

Zinnia noticed. “No, I just wanted to make sure Celeste got where she’s supposed to go.” Zinnia looked up towards her. “You know how scatter brained she can be.” her hand gently rested on Celeste's shoulder.

“Yeah, I definitely know that.” Dri looked at her, too, not able to hide the subtle happiness.

He was going to impress her today.

He was still a sector leader in training, but one day training will be over. If she thinks he's cool now, he couldn't imagine what she was going to think when he was in charge for real.

“Anyway...” Celeste had turned her focus on to something else. “This tour better be fun.” She said.

“I mean, there’s not much going on in the Capitol building.” Dri shrugged, but he definitely had a few ideas of where to take her.

Zinnia narrowed her eyes at the comment. “But Celeste-” she was about to say something but she didn’t get the chance when Celeste looked over to her sharply.

Was it because she wanted to spend time with Dri? They could do that anywhere. Zinnia was sure that Celeste has been to the Capitol building before.

She was practically raised here.

Zinnia just didn’t get the chance to say that.

“I’ll see you later, Zinnia.” Celeste gestured for her to walk away.

Zinnia didn’t understand what she was keeping a secret but she chose to leave the issue alone. She’d rather not get caught up in it. It was clear that Dri didn’t know important facts about Celeste, but today he was going to find out.

“I can’t believe you’re going to let me sneak around.” Celeste was excited. She held on to Dri’s real arm and they walked together.

“We’re not sneaking.” Dri corrected her. “We’re going to see if you can get some answers for your project. Not sneaking.” He made it clear but Celeste laughed.

“Sector one’s leader is escorting me around.” She smiled widely.

“In training.” He had to add that since that was important. He'd love to flaunt his title but he didn't have it yet.

“You and the others need to hurry up and take over your sectors. I bet the previous generation is tired.” She said.

She heard about the transition that should happen in a year or so. Almost all of the sector leaders were planning to retire, and the new leaders were in training. When she heard it was happening, she was excited, as if it meant a lot to her that they were retiring.

Dri wasn't so thrilled.

“I am drowning in work, Celeste. I don’t know if I want this anymore.” He added, “I’m supposed to be in training for a year. It’s been five months and I’m already handling everything myself.”

She thought that was great, but she definitely knew why he was handling much more than everyone else. “I mean it’s going to happen at some point, right?”

“Yeah, if my sector leader doesn’t kick my ass into the ground first.” He sighed miserably.

There was nothing that stressed him out more than knowing he was going to have to stay up for the next few days just for training. He had to admit it was tough. He was in over his head.

“I’m sure he likes you.” She seemed sure of it.

She had more faith than Dri did. She definitely supported the idea of him being a sector leader. He was strong, and he was good at getting people together. He was born for the job.

They were going up to one of the top floors. It was quieter up here. Not everyone has a lot of clearance to be up here, and Celeste was definitely excited to see that Dri could get her there.

“Just imagine picking up girls now.” Celeste said as she stepped off the elevator. She leaned against the wall and put her hand on her hip. “‘So uh, I’m a sector one leader if you didn’t know that. I kick a lot of ass and all that, nothing too crazy’.”

“Would that work on you?” Dri asked her.

“All day long.” She smiled at him.

“I feel like you’re just saying that.” Dri walked ahead of her. “You know, you fight like you trained with the sector.”

They’ve sparred before and he always got his ass kicked every time.

“You think so?” She asked. “My left hook could use some work still.” She moved her left shoulder around. “I definitely wouldn’t mind doing a little helpful training.” She suggested but the training she was thinking was not what she was implying.

She tagged along closely behind Dri and hoped they could pause their adventure for something different. It was a nice idea but today wasn’t the day.

Dri has made his moves before. He's snuck in kisses while making Celeste blush, but it's never been more than that.

Celeste was a very forward person, more so than Dri was. So he knew what she meant by her words, and as much as he would love to get that chance to move forward like his body was aching to, he knew there were more important things to handle.

Plus they hadn't gone out on a date yet.

“Let me help you with your research first. Then we can talk about what to do with our free time.” He said to her and let her in one of the rooms.

It was quiet.

But it was a large room.

Celeste looked around before she stepped forward to the spinning globe. She didn’t ask questions, she didn’t go touching anything else.

She wasn't shocked because she's been here before.

Just not by herself. It's not like she had the clearance.

She said an ID number, but it wasn’t hers. The lights turned on to brighten up the room. “Welcome, Aurora.” The Computer said.

Dri was surprised. He had no idea what just happened, considering Celeste said she was here for a reason. “Uh...” his heart began to race. “Celeste, what did you just do?” He asked her.

“Relax. We’ll be out of here in a minute.” She said as a bunch of commands loaded.

She brought up a hologram and took a step back to see everything in front of her. She was looking for something specific.

“Can you get to NASA’s system from here?” She asked.

That wasn't a question Dri wanted to hear. That just sounded like trouble. “Yeah, but Celeste-” he wanted to tell her to not do whatever she was thinking.

She said another ID number once she got her confirmation and the hologram listed thousands of more programs for her to choose from.

There was still something she was looking for and she hadn't found it yet.

She said one more number and everything in the room flashed blue, the system and the hologram. It was like everything stopped for a moment. Dri had no idea what he was looking at, if he was looking at something that was legal. His heart was still racing like he was doing something wrong.

Maybe he shouldn’t have let Celeste up here.

“What is all that?” Dri asked.

There were time stamps for documents, videos, other blue prints. All hidden programs and information that wasn't on a main system for people to see.

This was what she was looking for.

She knew where she could find everything but it wasn't till today that she finally got access.

“Everything Hariette wouldn’t show me about the project.” She said, amazed as she looked up with him.

A good chunk of the trial was in Hariette’s system. Celeste knew there had to be a finished product. There was no way the implant wasn’t complete when the blue print was done.

“This is incredible.” She gasped. “They had an upgraded version that worked at ninety percent.” She had to find out who had the implants and what happened.

“Celeste, maybe we should...” Dri wasn’t sure if he should let Celeste stay but he was almost as interested as she was.

There was so much.

Celeste picked one of the videos. It was dated in May, twenty seven years ago, two years before she was born. It was the first one of the list, so she thought it was the beginning. Did they have a finished product then? She played the video to find out.

A young Hariette and Aurora were sitting beside each other in a hospital room. Celeste couldn't believe how young they were to do an experiment that important. She saw Hariette's face, the shine in her white hair, how much stronger she looked.

And Celeste felt such a fondness for Aurora. Her heart swelled when she saw him. He looked...happier, even with such a doe eyed look on his face.

There was another woman in a white coat who stood in front of them. Celeste didn't recognize her, but she thought she knew someone that looked like her.

“How do you feel?” The woman asked them. “I didn’t kill you, did I?” She asked.

“I feel fine.” Aurora answered. “I could do without the neck pain, though-”

“Look, I wasn’t a surgeon when I got this job okay. I had to do a surgery rotation in one year and that’s not fun.” The physician was stressed out. "It also wasn't easy doing it myself, so."

“You need to calm down, Harlow. It’s not that serious.” Hariette said to her.

“It is when there’s a foreign material in your body. It might be the most pure bio material out there but it’s still a foreign item. So take it seriously.”

“Did everything turn on when you placed it?” Aurora asked her.

“As much as it could without you being conscious.” She said. “It should be fully functional now, so-"

Hariette who already started using the implant.

Her eyes had bright blue rings in them, and she looked preoccupied. She smiled to herself before the rings disappeared.

“I think we started something.” She was proud very proud as she looked at the both of them.

“Let’s not get too excited, it’s just day one.” Harlow said to make sure they don’t get too ahead of themselves. “We want to make sure your body doesn’t reject the implant.”

“And you know, burn a hole into our spine.” Aurora added.

Celeste stopped the video and the hologram faded, the screens changing again. There were more videos, and models to look at. She was surprised, not only to see them so young, but she didn’t know there was an experimental phase.

Why would Hariette keep that from her?

She turned back to Dri quickly. “I don’t know if I should continue without getting answers. Hariette didn’t tell me she had all of this.” She was upset. If she knew there was a trial phase, why couldn’t she get the upgraded blue prints. She almost felt like she was starting from scratch.

“I don’t know but look.” Dri pointed to another blue print on the hologram. “It says that...Sirus had this one.”

“There’s no way.” Celeste didn’t believe any of it.

She had to find out more. She had to ask Hariette what happened.

She wiped the history. No one should know that anyone was in here. Dri pulled her on so they could leave immediately but they were stopped in their tracks when someone else came in the room.

And it wasn’t a surprise.

It’s like they knew someone was in here.

The two of them staggered back when the older man stepped forward, and he didn’t exactly look too pleasant. He caught people doing something they shouldn’t have been.

“Sirus.”

“Dad-”

Dri didn’t think he heard Celeste right. His eyes were right on her because she just called Sirus ‘Dad’ and it wasn’t a slip up.

Celeste had that look like she was caught red handed. She couldn’t hide it. She stared at her father, almost a little jarred. She didn't expect to see him, though he did work here.

“What are you doing?” Sirus was asking them both.

“I’m going back to work.” Dri said quickly and he was off in a haste.

He didn’t want to leave Celeste alone, but the second Dri figured this was a family situation, he definitely didn’t want to interfere. There’s no way he was going to get caught between them.

Celeste had to explain herself. If there was one thing Sirus hated, it was when she went searching for things that she shouldn't. “I was just...”

“Just because you can come up here doesn’t mean you should.” Sirus wasn’t too happy. Celeste knew that. “You’re lucky I was the one that found you.”

If she were to get in trouble, Sirus wouldn't help her.

“You won’t tell...”

“Aurora that you’re sneaking around?" he finished the question for her. "You really think that’s going to be a secret between us?”

Celeste shouldn’t be here.

Already Sirus got the idea she was doing something she shouldn’t. It wasn’t surprising. She got that from Aurora.

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly as she looked away. “It’s just that-” she stopped herself when she was going to admit that she had questions on the implant.

Did Sirus still have his? Did Aurora and Hariette still have theirs?

“Okay, I won’t do it again.” Celeste had said that before. “I just wanted to impress Dri.” She lied.

Sirus made a face as he turned away to leave. “Stay away from sector leaders.” He told her. “They’re crazy.”

“Does that mean you’re crazy?” Celeste asked as she tagged behind her father.

She wasn’t that much shorter than he was. She tried to see if there was a scar on Sirus’ neck but couldn't get a clear view. If she could, she would stop him and move his hair to find out but he would find out what she was looking for.

She’d have to try another time. He’d get suspicious if she asked, too.

“Should’ve told me-”

“That I like Dri?” She finished for him. “So you could yell at him and make him miserable?” She asked cause she knew what was happening.

Sirus smiled.

“He says he’s drowning in work. Are you being lazy?” She asked him.

“I’m about to retire so I’ll do what I want.” He said to her.

“Aurora won’t be happy about that.” She snickered and Sirus glanced at her. “Dri’s nice, okay. And he wants the job. Don’t be so hard on him.” She knew saying that would have the opposite effect, but she tried anyway.

“Yeah, like I’m going to listen to you.” Sirus rolled his eyes.

“I like him.” Celeste said.

Sirus stopped walking abruptly and she bumped into him. Sirus wasn’t the type to pry into anyone’s life, but the way Celeste emphasized her feelings for Dri made him stop. He wasn’t sure if he was really okay with her being with someone in the army.

Then he thought again.

Her generation wasn’t as unstable as his is.

“He should be impressing you. And last I checked, he’s not even a sector leader-”

“Sector leader in training.” She emphasized. “That’s pretty cool." she was happy for Dri. Sirus couldn't say the same. He just wanted to be done with everything.

Celeste hoped desperately that her parents would retire.

Sirus' time was coming and that was putting her at ease but she didn't know when everything would happen. "When are you actually retiring? I’m tired of worrying if you’re going to come back.” She wanted to take care of her parents.

Sirus scoffed as he continued walking again.

“I always come back.”

It was true. No one ever worried if Sirus would come back or not. He always does.

“You should get going.” Sirus told her. “I’m not going to cover for you if Aurora finds you here.”

Celeste knew that was her cue. If she was lucky, maybe Sirus might give her a few days before he tells Aurora that she was sneaking around.

Celeste made her way to work. She took off her coat and set it behind her chair. She set a cup of coffee down in front of Zinnia and smiled.

“You were gone long.” Zinnia picked up the cup. “How was your fake tour?” she asked her.

“Look, I don’t get a lot of chances to make Dri feel special.” Celeste said. “I think he might like me more if he thinks he’s impressing me.” She said quietly as she sat down.

“Is that the only thing you wanted out of that?” Zinnia thought there had to be more. Celeste was there for a while, well long enough that she was sure Celeste might’ve been gone the rest of the day.

“I found some things out about my research.” Celeste said and added, “Dri also found out Sirus is my dad.”

“Oh really?” Zinnia’s eyes widened. "How long were you keeping that secret again?" Zinnia forgot, but it was a while that no one knew.

"I'm not parading who I am, Zinnia." Celeste turned on her systems. "It's not the kind of attention I want since I'm working on something illegal."

"True." Zinnia said and pressed her cup to her lips. “What did Dri say?”

Just as she asked, Celeste’s tablet began to flash. She was about to answer the question and she wanted Zinnia to see. Dri was calling, and it was definitely about what happened an hour earlier.

When she answered, she set her tablet down so he could see the both of them.

“Hi, Dri.” Zinnia said first. “Heard you found out the news.”

“That Sirus is her dad? Yeah.” He seemed horrified. “I knew you two looked alike, but I didn’t believe it was true.” He was shocked.

“Come on, Dri.” Zinnia thought he was smarter than that.

He shook his head in disbelief, then he looked at Celeste. There had to be more. “So who’s the, uh-”

Celeste barely ever talked about her parents. He wasn't sure if asking was okay since she never mentioned it. But Celeste seemed more casual about the subject than ever. She had hoped that Dri was smarter than to ask.

It was obvious.

“You know Aurora is his other half.” Celeste said.

Dri’s mouth dropped. "Seriously?” he was shocked. Celeste nodded but Dri's expression didn't change. “I almost don’t believe you. Aurora doesn’t yell at anyone the way he yells at Sirus.” he was convinced that Aurora hated Sirus.

“If you’ve been with someone for three decades, you’d yell at them like that, too.” Celeste snickered.

She wasn't surprised considering how much Dri complains about getting in trouble because Sirus does things his way.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Dri was curious. "I mean..." he saw Celeste's expression.

It wasn’t easy saying her dad was the Head of Defense. Apparently there was this lingering gloom that went on around that fact.

There were things that happened before her time. No one wants to say what that is.

She’ll have to find out one day. Someone has to spill the secret.

Zinnia was laughing to herself, and when she couldn’t cover it up, she laughed louder. “I take it you knew.” Dri shouldn’t be surprised.

“I mean, there was a time I didn’t know either, but it’s not like I work for her parents.” she kept laughing.

“These are the kinds of secrets we tell each other. I can’t date my boss’ daughter.” Dri said to them.

“That’s a good point.” Zinnia agreed.

“Look, every other kid was getting special treatment because their parents were department heads. I don't need people asking me why I'm not working for the Department of Defense as an engineer.” She complained.

"You're telling me you don't want to make cool ass weapons?" Dri asked.

"I would love that, and you know it." Celeste didn't deny. "I would've been at NASA, too. You can only imagine the shit I could come up with."

"You're inspiring her to make a nuclear weapon, Dri." Zinnia warned him, but she smiled when Celeste nudged her.

"I just didn't want to do all that, okay. I feel like I would be in Aurora's shadows if I even got close to working in his department." Celeste said, and she didn't want to explain herself more than that.

She meant what she said. She knew she was smart, and she knew what she was capable of. She was great in school, had the highest exam scores for three different backgrounds, and was given first choice for her occupation.

She could've done anything she wanted.

She didn't regret what she chose. She handled so much stress just to be at the top and when she got there, she learned that it wasn't worth it. She wasn't as satisfied as she thought she would be.

She figured it would be easier to do something she liked that wouldn't give her a panic attack. It was better to be happy and stress free.

She was happy with her choice. No one could persuade her otherwise.

Dri shook his head and decided to change the conversation. “Are you letting me test this device of yours or what?-”

“I have to put that on hold for a couple weeks.” Celeste said quickly. Apparently she found out much more. “I need answers from Hariette because apparently there’s a huge mistake somewhere in the blue print.”

If she didn’t find it, the same thing might happen.

“You’re gonna be her test subject?” Zinnia asked, a little cautious. “Be careful.” She warned Dri.

“I got a cool arm because of her.”

“First it’s an arm, then she puts your brain in a robot body.” Zinnia said.

“You know we can’t do research with that-”

They both looked at her. She’s already doing a hidden research within that field. It’s been banned to do research with the human brain since a few generations before had a ton of legal, medical, and ethical issues. If Celeste knew what was good for her, she’d completely stop.

They knew she wasn’t going to.

“Anyway, I’m getting written up for giving access to a civilian so I’ll call you later.” Dri said and the call ended.

“You got him in trouble?” Zinnia asked.

“Yeah.” Celeste answered, a little apologetic because she didn't mean to get Dri in trouble.

Zinnia wasn’t surprised. She just drank her coffee and looked away so she could do her job.

By the end of the day, Celeste told Zinnia she would meet up with her later. Celeste wondered if Sirus was still working, or if she would find Aurora. She couldn’t just walk into any place she wanted, and she never flaunted that she was the Head of Defense’s daughter. So she waited quietly in the lobby, watching the stars through the glass windows. Whoever engineered the building did one hell of a job.

That’s what she always thought.

She stayed on the ground floor. People passed by her and never asked anything. She waited to see someone she recognized. Until finally someone walked out of the elevator.

Aurora’s hair was silver now. He kept it cut short, shorter than he used to have it when he was younger. He looked tired, and it’s much harder to stay up days on end like he used to. How old was he now? He certainly felt his age with how tired he was.

There were a lot of changes happening. He had to make sure transitions were going smoothly and that's the least of his problems.

Celeste hoped that someone would take his place soon.

She got up quickly and ran over to him. Without even saying a word, she hugged him tightly. Aurora was stunned. Celeste didn't say she was coming by. He would've left earlier if she had said something.

It was always a surprise to see her nowadays.

She just got a hold of her own life. She was doing her best to be on her own, and she was doing really well.

“I didn’t know you were here.” Aurora said to her, surprised that she hugged him out of nowhere. It was like she just appeared.

“I just wanted to come by.” She said and let go.

Aurora was a little worried. Celeste might’ve smiled at him, but he wanted to make sure everything was okay. He was about to ask her what’s wrong but she spoke instead.

“Are you going home? You shouldn’t stay up late-”

“First of all, stop treating me like I’m old.” Aurora spoke over her because she started doing that recently, saying that he should sleep more, and watch where he walked, and make sure he didn’t hurt himself or forget certain things. “And I have to stay to make sure sector one gets their direction.” He sighed. “You know how Sirus can be...”

She wanted to know about it but Aurora never said anything beyond that.

"Apparently my new sector one leader is already getting in trouble, and for once it's not Sirus' fault.” He looked at Celeste like he knew the truth about earlier.

“Please be nice to Dri, okay. He likes his job, and he wants to impress you.” Celeste didn’t want Dri to get the worst treatment.

Aurora only smiled.

“You like him?”

She blushed and looked away.

“What happened to Zinnia?” He asked.

Celeste couldn’t explain that she liked two people. It was like they both had half her heart. She looked away further and mashed her lips. She was never really shy, but she was right now. Her dad was asking her questions about her potential love interests and she didn’t know how to answer.

“Everyone is different, Celeste.”

“But it would be great to be with someone for three decades.” She wanted the kind of love Aurora had. Her parents have been together for so long, and she thought it was the most romantic thing.

“Sirus is annoying.” Aurora sighed. “He’s loud and obnoxious, and...” He was about to ramble on but he began to smile, mostly to himself.

Celeste needed to know things.

Aurora may point out most of Sirus’ flaws whenever he talked to anyone, but he glowed underneath the annoyance and anger.

“Will you ever tell me?” She asked.

“One day.” Aurora said. “Just not today.” He added when it looked like she would ask if he had time now. “Come on, I’ll walk with you.” Aurora said when she took his arm.

Celeste wondered a lot about Sirus and Aurora. Any child would want to know about their parents’ lives. Sirus could show her, but the question was would he. Aurora didn’t talk much about the past unless Celeste was involved. He told her about when she was a child, all the things she did, but that was as far as he would go.

What happened before?

She could tell Aurora went through a lot.

"When are you going to retire?" Celeste asked him. "I know you already maxed out on your contributions." She would like her parents to take it easy now. There was no point to over working themselves.

The transition was about to happen, but it seems like Aurora was still going to stay in his position.

"The plan was to have all the department heads appointed for life." Aurora said.

Some of them had already retired. Others were about to.

Aurora knew the truth about his position, Celeste didn't. "Chances are I won't get any time off." He said to make it easier for her.

"Well that's not fair." she frowned. "You can't do this for the rest of your life. You need a break."

"You don't have to tell me." Aurora scoffed. "I've been tired ever since I started this job. It's been..." he thought to himself. "Wow, its been years." he hadn't realized how long he was in this position.

Celeste could see the scars on Aurora's neck. They were dark and extremely visible, like whoever did that to him didn't care about leaving a mark.

Did Aurora still have his implant?

They talked for a while longer, but Celeste didn't want to be a distraction. She still needed answers and she only knew one person that might tell her.