The Nexxies behind James's ear pulses faintly, fiber-optic veins glowing as the call connects.

  Nexxies is an ultra-slim neural interface that is placed on the curve behind the ear. Semi-translucent matte black base. When it's turned on, the fiber-optic veins running along the outer curve pulse faintly. Apart from basic headphone features, it consists of a neural link and bio-feedback.

  “Hey... James.”

  James’s eyes widen. “Charles? After months?”

  “Yeah... uhh... I was in Freeholds for some time.”

  “That is a DANGEROUS place, do you know? That place is filled with gangs and syndicates,” says James, his voice rising as he stands up.

  “I know that... but information is necessar... as you know, I was in Girdle before, worked non-stop for those corps. I thought I would find some information regarding the government and something related to old research of Morgan u talked about.”

  “So you chose to risk your life?” says James, sounding annoyed.

  “No... no... I know I worked for the corps temporarily, that increases the risk in Freeholds... those gangs generally hate corps.”

  “Did you find something?”

  “No... not enough... but I suspect the Dead Belts... That whole continent is abandoned. Those wars, toxic dust storms. Most of its countries are covered in sand.”

  "...I suspect the Dead Belts," Charles is saying.

  “YEAH, I know that much. I didn’t sit around for those months... Only 3 countries in the Dead Belt are still at least habitable to us. But most of the Dead Belt is barely habitable. Those 3 countries are already taken over by scavengers. They’re called Ghosts,” says James.

  James walks to the window while Charles talks. Outside, the city sprawls under a hazy sky.

  “Yeah, I saw one of those in Freeholds. They’re covered in fat vests, long coats, and an ugly mask covering the whole face. They also carry... four to five guns. Well... how is Mathews?”

  James’s face brightens. “He is quite interested in the comics we used to read when we were younger. He kinda loves them.”

  “I knew it... And about your wife....”

  “I gotta go, Charles. Will call back,” James says as he quickly cuts the call. He stands there, his eyes staring at nothing for a while.

  In a nearby room, Mathews is holding a Pane laid on his bed, reading a comic.

  Pane is A5 sized, very thin, flexible like a sheet of plastic or fine glass. The surface is transparent OLED. Generally used by children as a notebook in schools.

  After a while, the door slides open. James steps inside the room and checks on his son.

  “Hey son...” James calls.

  “Yeah dad... I... I just finished this comic you said...” He looks up at his dad, eyes wide. He is 11 and he stutters while speaking a lot.

  “Oh... you did? So how was it?” James asks as he sits beside him on the bed.

  “Uhhh... so... I didn’t expect that... that... villain... to win... Just a super villain... came and almost destroyed our planet... those heroes... they were weak, they couldn’t kill this villain,” says Mathews.

  “But they saved almost everyone there... they saved lives....”

  There is a brief pause. James changes his tone a bit to be more gentle but serious.

  “You know, Mathews? Taking lives is easy. Even a common man can take a few lives. But only the strongest can save lives. It is easy to fire a gun at some people and take their lives. But it takes strong resolve and strength to jump inside a burning building to save a few lives. You get that?”

  “Yeah... those heroes... saved almost everyone... in... in the world... they... won....” says Mathews.

  “No matter how weak you are or how weak you look in front of your problems... it’s your resolve that is your true power,” says James as he brushes his hair.

  “Thanks, dad.”

  James walks out of Mathews room.

  *beep* *beep*

  “Hey... James, new info... important one. Let’s travel to the Dead Belt... we need serious preparations so head near the Freehold, I'll meet you there.”

  James glances toward Mathews's room. The Gut. The most toxic place on the planet. He thinks of his son, of the truth still buried.

  James climbs into his car as it starts to levitate and slowly flies off. James, sitting alone thinks about the possibilities of what might happen as he heads north to pick up Charles. He accelerates quickly.

  Hours later, he reaches near the Freehold. He slowly lands the car and steps outside, waiting for a while for Charles. After a few moments, Charles is seen walking toward him. James straightens,confusion and shock crossing his face as he looks at one of the ghosts or scavengers standing beside Charles. The scavenger doesn’t greet or talk. His face is covered by a mask, and he moves very little, almost like a robot.

  Charles leans forward,

  "Listen... James... he... he is not permitted to speak, but he will take us to the place from where we can enter easily and secretly inside the Deadbelt."

  James nods.

  "Okay, let’s get in my car..."

  The scavenger decides to sit in the driver’s seat and drive them to the place. James’s eyes linger on him continuously, but because of Charles, he trusts the situation. The scavenger drives off with James and Charles sitting in the backseat.

  To the south lies the Archipelago is a combination of multiple landmasses tied together by gigantic chains. The cities stay close to one another, and different corporations conduct most of their business here.

  To the east lies the Ring Sprawl is a massive landmass shaped like a ring, with a sea at its center. The regions surrounded by these seas are rich in rare minerals.

  In the western continent, Concord is the biggest city in the world. Most corporate leaders and politicians live there.

  In the Dead Belt, there are two divisions: the Undergrid and the Outer Rim. The least toxic areas in the entire Dead Belt are the Outer Rims, where scavengers and raiders survive. The Undergrid is the largest and most toxic division.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Yeah, so why the Deadbelt... why are we risking so much?" asks James.

  "Hn... I have my connections. I worked in so many places. I have enough savings, and it helps me get information. Data is expensive, more expensive than anything. That data sometimes even decides your life..."

  "What did you find?" James asks, his face serious but full of determination. Charles looks him in the eye. He has always respected James and his ambition.

  "The Gut is one of the undergrids in the Deadbelt. But the Gut is an underwater place. And also the most toxic place in this whole world... so toxic that it will rot any living being in a day, even the bones. There is an underwater bunker, which is a rumor, but it seems it survived for decades. If it actually exists, it means it hides something. And if Morgan's research is not public and almost no one knows him or his work, then I guess the government did a good job hiding it..." explains Charles.

  James listens carefully before speaking.

  "I don’t think it’s the government that hides it all. It might be some corps... or..."

  James looks at the scavenger driving.

  "...gangs..."

  There is no reaction from the scavenger, but James doesn’t move his eyes away. Charles notices it.

  Charles meets his eyes. "The portal you saw... something you always dreamed of... do you think you can build it?"

  The scavenger drives with mechanical precision, never adjusting his posture, never checking mirrors. His gloved hands rest on the controls like they're welded there.

  "When I was working the fabrication plant last month..., I saw a paper... it looked... out of this world. The paper looked odd. It also seemed like it had been burned. I saw the name ‘Morgan’ and below it was a structure that looked like a portal. We have advanced science... We know the people who are the richest and control the world are hiding something. Don't you think... we never...see what’s beyond the sky? We just see tiny shiny dots and they’re called stars.The sky must be vast.Something about that feels wrong. Not just the lack of curiosity, something deeper. Like a word he learned wrong as a child and never questioned. I hate this system... I hate it... *I will rebuild everything*..."

  There is a sudden pause. Charles is confused. James said this, but now he looks completely baffled.

  "You will rebuild... everything?" asks Charles.

  James presses his palm against his temple. The pain is sharp, leaving only the echo of words in his own voice that didn't come from his own mind.

  Charles comforts him.

  "Could be the neural link causing feedback. You've been using it a lot lately."

  "I... didn't say that." His voice is barely a whisper. "Why did I say that?"

  Moments later,

  James looks outside the window. He thinks to himself, “If… if I don’t return home safe… what will happen to Mathews…? He must think I just do… normal work. I just… feel like I’m lying to the one I love the most.”

  Charles keeps checking his phone and his adv Pane - an advanced version of a normal Pane, generally used by corporate workers. His eyes switch constantly between several inboxes as he reviews every known detail about the places and the situation. He calculates the number of possibilities that could result in their death. Charles’s face is pale, caught somewhere between ambition and consequences.

  Moments flash before James’s eyes. He sees a huge cylindrical chamber.

  “Hey… Charles,” James says in a very quiet tone.

  “Yes?”

  “Mathews is not getting better… He stutters a lot… and as he grows, it doesn’t get better, I can't let him be seen by corrupt doctors who'll just hand him over for reconstruction. It scares me… this world scares me.” James says, his breath growing heavy.

  “His ALS is getting worse… we’ve been together for so long… still you never told me about that… about your… wife…”

  James is quiet again for a moment.

  “There is a responsibility that is bestowed upon me… but I can’t fulfill it. I feel like a failure because…”

  Like many others, including Charles, James was also made from the old or the sick. In this world, the poor who are old or ill are not cured naturally. Through Nanotech Reprogramming, the human body is reconstructed. Depending on the original condition, a fresher body with healthy organs performs best. A child with defects or illness can be rebuilt into a better version, memories wiped, aging slowed.

  James’s case is different. The body from which he was reconstructed had brain damage. He had been kept frozen for many years.

  James closes his eyes. A memory surfaces - not his own, but older. The day James was constructed. He looked like a teenager, strapped beneath rows of surgical machines.

  The emergency alarms went off, the noise filling the whole building.

  “The Raiders invaded.”

  The voice echoed through the building.

  A woman broke through the gate, pushing her way past the surgeons. She and her men wore masks, throwing smoke bombs inside. She made her way into a large room, where many huge cylindrical chambers were kept in a row. She searched through them all. Because of the smoke she spread, it was hard to see clearly.

  She walked through the Smoke-filled Corridor. The first thing she noticed was James. He looked 19. He wasn't inside a chamber; he was strapped beneath heavy machines. James’s face looked crystal clear, like a face that doesn’t even know human emotions. She ignored him and checked the nearby chambers, until she found a toddler sleeping inside one.

  She shot and broke the glass, taking the child out, walking through the hallway towards the door. Her steps were slow. She felt heavy.

  Near the door, she stood still. One of her men asked her to quickly take Mathews and get out. She didn’t move. Everything around her felt wrong. Too selfish. Too heavy.

  She kept Mathews in her arms and shot down the other chambers, asking her comrades to take the others too. Her comrades were surprised, as this wasn’t part of their plan, but they still decided to help.

  The cops surround the hospital, asking the raiders to surrender.

  She shot through the smoke at the machines where James was strapped. James fell down and slowly gained consciousness amid the flashing alarm lights, noise, and smoke.

  “We’re surrounded, Eve. We can’t go from the first floor. Choppers surround us from the sky. The upper floor from here is the roof,” said one of her comrades.

  Eve paused, her mind in utter panic.

  Meanwhile, James, completely naked with a pale face, walked towards the lift. He analyzed it for a moment, then quickly learnt how to use it.

  Outside, the cops kept their guns pointed at the building.

  From the main entrance, James walked out. The cops were completely baffled, seeing a naked man calmly walking out. One cop felt too uneasy and fired a few shots at James. The bullets scratched his skin but couldn't penetrate it.

  James simply stared at everyone, analyzing his surroundings. The cops were even more shocked as the bullets did nothing.

  Taking advantage of the confusion, the raiders burst out of the first floor with smoke bombs, shooting down the cops. James stood there with a pale face, like it’s just another day.

  Eve grabbed his hand and pulled him with them to their cars. They quickly flew off, while some raiders escaped by road. They took him to Ring Sprawl, where they stayed hidden most of the time.

  James is a fast learner. Even by just listening, he learnt to talk within a month.

  Mathews was one year old. He grew attached to James and stayed in his arms most of the time. After a month, for the first time, James smiled. His smile was genuine, like it truly came from his heart, a sudden joy flowing through him. Eve saw it from a distance and felt happy.

  They partied because everything went as planned. James adapted to them, and life became normal.

  As everyone enjoyed their drinks, Eve sat with James. James, with his old habit, kept analyzing every little detail of his surroundings.

  “James, if things were normal… I would’ve married you.”

  “Married?” James asked quietly.

  “Oh, I guess you don’t know about that. Marriage is when a male and female stay together.”

  James tilted his head. “Aren’t… we together?”

  “Uh… I think… you’re right,” Eve laughed awkwardly. “Why is your skin so tough? Normal reconstruction doesn’t do that. Are you some experiment?”

  “I’m… not sure.”

  “That boy I saved, he’s my nephew. The only one left in my whole family. My sister was a raider too. She died while giving birth. This place is toxic, the air is bad almost everywhere. Mathews was born with a neurodegenerative disease. His parents were killed, and he was taken for reconstruction,” Eve said, staring at nothing.

  “I’ll take care of Mathews…”

  Who knew those would be the last words he could ever say to her.

  For a few hours, everything felt almost normal. Then the first bomb fell, obliterating most of the camp and killing almost everyone.

  James survived. He searched through the wreckage and saw Eve holding Mathews. Her body was burned, and her legs were blasted off. She crawled toward James.

  For the first time, James sweats. He felt fear. Fear of losing.

  Out of instinct, he held Eve and Mathews and sat there, not knowing what to do.

  Eve could barely speak. Blood bubbles at her lips.

  “James?”

  “Hmm.”

  “I want to… live…”

  James looked at her burns, her missing legs, the light fading from her eyes. He knew. There's no saving her. “I… don’t want… don’t want to live without you.” James says.

  There was no answer from Eve. Her hand went slack in his. She was gone.

  James stood up, carrying Mathews. Bombs still dropped, but he was tough enough to endure the distant blasts. He knew if one fell near him, he might die.

  James sneaked out of the camp with Mathews.

  And for the first time, his vision turned blurry, and his heart ached.