He shrugged his shoulders and looked away. “Ask away.”
“Have you ever regret something before?”
“Captain Eve, I can’t answer that query with precision. I don’t know anymore which to regret about and which is not.”
“This is the fifth favor, then. Just tell me the truth, Sir.” She gazed at him, letting him know that she is serious.
“Is the organization helping the humankind or not?” she asked with no hesitations
The man laughed. “That wasn’t the favor I was expecting you to ask, Captain.”
He then hemmed and glanced at her, then to the fellows standing yards away from them. “The mission, is it considered as helping our kind?”
She nodded. “It is, Sir.”
“Look, Eve. If I would like to, I could have just leave Earth and let everyone here be perished—most of the people here, I should say. But, do you know why I established the organization?”
He took a deep sigh and gazed at the sky. “For a person, Eve. For the few people who have entrusted me their humanity. And you know how much I value sworn promises. I don’t break them.”
For seconds, she’s rewinding in her mind what he had said. Internalizing if he’s really telling the truth.
“Now, tell me, is the organization helping the humankind or not?” He turned to her.
She interchangeably looked at his eyes. “If I will only base on the mission alone and to the fortune that you have granted to each one of us, then, you are helping our existence.”
He smiled diplomatically and just nodded. In the next few minutes, he remained silent.
“The other day, I am sorry about that. My mood is really unstable whenever I have tons of things to do.”
“That is fine with me, Sir. I do understand that. I, too, behaves the same whenever I am being interrupted while working on something.”
He shook his head. “Mine is different. My case is totally different.”
She glanced away and contain her eyes with the view of the empty blue sky. Not even a single cloud can be seen above them.
“Is that your fifth favor now?”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t even a favor, Eve.”
“For me, it is, Sir.”
The wind blows and the afternoon warmth of the day came to greet them. Somehow, that felt nostalgic for Eve.
“Are you already prepared for the presentation tomorrow?”
“We are, Sir. We have always been.”
“As expected from your team. How’s your teammates?”
“They are all excited.”
“I knew it.” His forehead creased as he saw the ashtray.
“Aside from Epharil, who else is smoking in your team, Captain Eve?”
“She was indeed a heavy smoker, but she had never influenced us to do the same. She joked about it for a lot of times, but no—she never taught us to smoke, too.”
He picked up and turned it upside down. “I gave her this. Eve, I am not accepting your last favor. Ask for another else.” He then glanced at her again.
She held his breath. 'What else should I ask that has nothing to do with the organization?!'
“Is there something you want to keep aside for this association, Sir?”
“Everyone human have that something that they want to keep for a lifetime, Eve. I am human, too. And of course, I have as well.”
“Someday, you can fulfill it all.”
“You think so?”
“Why? Don’t you want to do it now?”
“It is not yet time for that, Captain. And I am not sure if there’s still time for that to happen.”
She couldn’t agree more. Time is really inconsiderate. And she had witnessed how it has been harsh to her family.
“If ever it is certain that one day something will allow you to make it happen, will you be willing to wait for that day, Sir?”
“I would gladly spend my remaining years waiting for it—if that is possible, Eve. If only life can exist without time or if only it can at least run slower, humanity could have not been like this.”
“I doubt that, Sir. Humans are greedy. We never got satisfied. Fast or slow; or even if it is to be stopped, we will surely rob what we can get away from time. It has to keep spinning to let us know that everything we can do aren’t limitless.”
“Then you have just opposed to the possibility you’re talking about a while ago.”
“I am not. I am not heartless, Sir. We still owe this organization a lot. Someday, meet me somewhere, and I will make you fulfill your eagerness to keep that something that you really wanted to keep.”
The man chuckled and nodded. “How long will it take?”
“I don’t know as of now. I am not even sure if it will work—”
“What?!” he inquired in surprised.
“Science takes time to work on, Sir. And I will bet, it took you years to build this organization, too. Am I wrong?”
“The plan took me just no day to decide, Captain Eve. Only the making of it to be possible took me years to get done.”
“As expected from you, Sir.”
“Like you, I once had a team, too. But they—I mean us, are all more capable of you. But if you can really do that, you alone are even more capable than us.”
Such praises make her wonder if what the others think about the man. 'How come that they can judge him as someone who’s completely the opposite of the person she knows?' she talked to herself.
“By the way, what is this something you would be working on?”
“Would you believe me, Sir, if I will say that time can really be tricked, just as how it tricked us?”
“That is not impossible. But it might take eons before humanity can do make it happen.”
“It will take no eons, Sir. I am sure of it.”
She looked at him convincingly. “There is no such thing as impossible, Sir.”
“Yes, there is. Impossibilities are what makes other things possible, Eve. But, there might be a way to make those impossible almost possible. If so, that would be great.”
“If I made it—”
“I’ll be leaving you all of my wealth.”
“I need no wealth more than I can spend, Sir.”
“What I should bet then?”
She grinned inwardly. “Everything about the organization.”
He stared at her, seriously and warningly. But it didn’t bother her. Instead, she equalled the intimidating look he’s giving her.
“Okay, deal. Be sure to make it happen. Aside for the informations about the organization, I will be giving our inventions to the government, too, in case they’ll be needing those someday.”
She gulped, wasn’t expecting him to bet that much. “No, Sir. Just the informations are already enough.” She shook her head.
Lux smiled and turned to his men. “If you have successfully done it, Captain Eve, I won’t be needing anything here anymore. That is all I need, not any of these.”
He glimpsed at her once more and extended his hand.
“Congratulations to you and your team! You’re just days away from going home,” he announced and let go of their shake hands.
“Thank you, Sir!” She saluted, though wondering why he had to dismiss their conversation out of a sudden.
He walked away without formally saying he’s already leaving. As she watched him leave their building, she can’t help but to guess if the man has really believed her.
“Is there something wrong, Captain?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you two talk about this time?”
“Just about the presentation and our departure.”
“Anything else aside from that.”
“Nothing more.” She looked at her member, giving him the hint to let her think for a while.
“I am sorry, Captain.”
“Tell the others to be prepared tomorrow. We’ll be facing not just a few people, not just the boss, not just the uppers but everyone in the organization. We can’t afford to make mistakes.”
“Copy, Captain!”
The sound of the man’s leaving footsteps reminded her of the sound of everyone’s who left right in front of her. Upon remembering it all, she has more reasons to pursue her plans.
“Lux, trust me, I will definitely make it happen!” She dared, talking to herself.
As she went back to her office, the piled documents about the slice of science she’s working on welcomed her.
“Hang on, Sir. It is just on hold,” she whispered and sat down on her seat while eyeing to the nothingness, imagining how wonderful it is.