Five Years Later. (Joshua & Saria: Age 15)
The Obsidian Workshop was humid, filled with the sharp tang of soldering fumes and the low hum of a ventilation fan fighting a losing battle against the heat.
"Stabilizer," Joshua requested, his hand outstretched, eyes glued to the open chassis of a quad-rotor drone.
"Here," Saria replied, placing the component precisely in his palm.
Joshua paused for a second, glancing up. Saria was leaning over the workbench, holding a magnifying glass for him. Over the last two years, she had grown taller, her features sharpening into a striking, cool beauty. But the most noticeable change was her hair.
It was long now, no longer the practical bob of her childhood. It cascaded down her back like a waterfall of spun silver, currently tied up in a high, swaying ponytail that brushed against her shoulders as she moved.
"You're staring," Saria murmured, not looking up from the circuit board, though the tips of her pointed ears turned a faint shade of pink.
"Just admiring the aerodynamics," Joshua lied smoothly, turning back to his work. "The ponytail reduces drag. Very efficient."
Saria huffed, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Idiot. Just finish the wiring."
"Done," Joshua announced, snapping the casing shut. He held up the device. It was bulky, ugly, and covered in heat sinks, but it was his masterpiece. "The Sky-Eye Mark V. Since I can't use Originium engines without frying them, this baby runs on a high-density chemical battery and four localized combustion thrusters."
"It looks like a flying bomb," Saria observed.
"A controlled flying bomb," Joshua corrected. He grabbed his remote controller—a bulky thing wrapped in thick rubber insulation to prevent his hands from nullifying the signal. "I'm heading to the cliffs to test the range. You coming?"
Saria straightened up, wiping grease from her cheek. She opened her mouth to say yes, but a voice called out from the kitchen doorway.
"Oh, Saria!" Latina beamed, leaning against the doorframe with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Actually, I need some help in the kitchen. I'm trying a new recipe for those cookies you like. And I have some... questions to ask you."
Latina's eyes flicked meaningfully toward Joshua, then back to Saria with a knowing wink.
Saria froze. She looked at Joshua, who was oblivious, packing his gear. Then she looked at Latina. The "Girl Talk" alarm bells rang in her head.
"I..." Saria stammered, caught between the desire to watch the test and the terrifying allure of talking about him. She sighed, her tail drooping slightly. "I'll stay. Someone has to make sure your mother doesn't burn the house down."
"Thanks, Saria! You're the best!" Joshua grinned, grabbing his bag. "I'll be back in an hour with the flight data. Don't eat all the cookies!"
He bolted out the door, leaving Saria to her fate.
The Trimounts District - Public Park & Cliffs
The late afternoon sun bathed the cliffs in gold. It was a quiet spot, usually empty during the weekdays, making it perfect for unauthorized experimental flights.
Joshua set the drone down on a flat patch of grass. He pulled on his heavy rubber gloves and powered up the controller.
"Alright, Mark V," he muttered. "Don't embarrass me."
He flipped the switch.
WHIRRR-HISS.
The chemical thrusters ignited with a sharp hiss. The drone wobbled, then lifted into the air, its propellers chopping through the wind. It hovered at eye level, stable.
"Yes!" Joshua cheered, pushing the throttle.
The drone shot upward, climbing fifty, then a hundred meters. The telemetry on his remote showed stable RPMs. It was working. He pushed it harder, banking left over the walking path, testing the maneuverability.
"Speed is good. Yaw is responsive. Now for the dive..."
Joshua pushed the stick forward. The drone tipped its nose down, gathering speed.
Suddenly, the controller vibrated violently.
WARNING. BATTERY CORE OVERHEAT.
"What?" Joshua frowned. "No, the heat sinks should be handling it!"
BOOM!!!
A small explosion rocked the drone mid-air. One of the chemical batteries had ruptured, igniting the fuel line. The drone instantly transformed from a marvel of engineering into a spinning fireball.
"Crap!" Joshua wrestled with the controls. "Disengage! Cut power!"
The controls were dead. The burning wreckage was plummeting.
Joshua looked down to see where it was going to land. His blood ran cold.
Below, on the paved walking path, stood a girl.
She was wearing a university prep uniform, holding a stack of papers and looking up at the sky. She wasn't moving. She wasn't running. She was just staring at the clouds, completely oblivious to the flaming chunk of metal screaming toward her head.
"HEY!" Joshua screamed, dropping the controller and sprinting. "MOVE!"
The girl didn't flinch. She seemed lost in a trance, her eyes tracking something invisible in the atmosphere.
The drone was seconds away.
Joshua didn't think. He didn't calculate. He just ran.
He vaulted over a park bench, his boots slamming into the pavement. He was close. The heat of the falling drone was already radiating in the air.
"LOOK OUT!"
He didn't wait for her to turn. He threw himself at her.
He collided with the girl, wrapping his arms around her waist and tackling her sideways. They hit the grass hard, rolling two, three times.
CRASH!
The drone slammed into the concrete exactly where she had been standing a split second ago. It shattered into pieces, the battery pack exploding in a final pop of sparks and black smoke.
Joshua groaned, the wind knocked out of him. He was lying on top of the girl, his arms shielding her head. He quickly rolled off, gasping for air.
"Are you..." Joshua wheezed, sitting up. "Are you crazy? Didn't you hear me screaming?"
The girl sat up. She didn't look scared. She didn't look thankful. She looked... annoyed.
She adjusted her glasses, which had gone askew, and brushed a leaf off her shoulder. Then, she looked at the smoking crater in the pavement, and finally at Joshua.
"You disrupted my observation," she stated. Her voice was cool, detached.
"I disrupted your death!" Joshua snapped, pointing at the wreckage. "That thing would have cracked your skull open!"
"Unlikely," she replied, standing up and dusting off her skirt. "Based on the angle of descent and wind resistance, it likely would have struck my left shoulder. Survivable. Painful, but survivable."
...Unbelievable.
Joshua stared at her, mouth agape. "Who are you?"
The girl looked down at him. Her eyes were sharp, golden, and filled with an intelligence that felt almost alien. She tapped the stack of papers she had managed to hold onto during the tackle.
"Kristen," she said. "Kristen Wright."
Joshua froze.
Wright.
He looked at the papers in her hand. They were covered in complex equations regarding atmospheric particle density and originium interference layers.
This was her. The genius. The visionary. The woman who would one day sacrifice everything to break through the "fake sky" of Terra.
And he had just tackled her into the grass.
"You..." Joshua scrambled to his feet, dusting himself off nervously. "You're Kristen Wright? The particle physics prodigy?"
Kristen raised an eyebrow. "I see my reputation precedes me. And you are?"
She looked at the burning wreckage again, stepping closer to inspect it with the toe of her boot. "No Originium signature. Chemical propulsion? Crude. Inefficient. Why build a bomb when you could build a glider?"
"It wasn't supposed to be a bomb," Joshua defended, his mechanic's pride stinging. "It was a prototype. And I can't use Arts units."
He held up his hands, still wearing the rubber gloves. "I have a condition. I nullify Originium reactions on contact."
Kristen stopped.
Slowly, she turned her head back to him. The annoyance in her eyes evaporated, replaced by a sudden, intense curiosity. It was the look of a scientist who had just found a missing variable in a grand equation.
"Nullification?" she repeated softly.
She stepped closer, invading his personal space, staring directly into his mismatched eyes.
"You are a walking dead-zone," she murmured, a smile slowly creeping onto her face. It wasn't a friendly smile; it was terrifyingly ambitious. "If you nullify Originium... you are immune to the interference of the Starpod layer."
"The what?" Joshua asked, though he knew exactly what she meant.
"Nothing," Kristen said, stepping back. She extended a hand. "You saved me. I suppose that creates a social obligation. I am Kristen."
Joshua sighed, shaking the dirt off his glove before taking her hand. "Joshua. Joshua Obsidian."
"Well, Joshua Obsidian," Kristen said, gripping his hand firmly. "You owe me a new set of calculations. And in return... perhaps I can tell you why your battery exploded."