《The Rebirth of Gaea》 0.1. Prologue 0.1 Prologue The "Van Gogh caf¨¦" was since its creation a place with a rustic ambience and some medievalist detail in its architecture. A light-brown clothed youth with tired looks was seated in a corner sipping his coffee while looking toward the window. He was 27 this year, and had finally finished his project, he had taken six years to complete it and there was a time when he was about to leave the university for it. His physics colleagues regarded him as a normal person, a bit chaotic and sometimes too independent. And when he began to study computer engineering some people considered him apathetic while others simply thought his preferences affected his behaviour too much. Right now he was thinking about his future, no one could have realized how excited he was with the tired face he wore. Six year ago he thought about it as just one more idea for the notebook, but today it would be the first time he show his idea to someone else. Well, it was true that some friends had helped him participating in the project, but none had any idea of the magnitude of the entire project. While thinking about this, in the caf¨¦ the sound of the radio could be hear. (~~Pi~pi~piii~~ its 7 o''clock, 6 o¡¯clock in the Canary Islands. ~~pirin~ inpirin~ the news~~ "today a gir...~) Suddenly the young man stood up and went to the door ''It''s time'' The radio could still be hear as he opened the door. (~... yesterday China gave an ultimatum to the US army in Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Laos, South Korea and Jap...~) "Bye" He said not waiting for an answer and stepping out. Walking down the street he watched as the city was awakening. A man leaving his house as he put the jacket on a child, a woman in heels and skirt walking in a hurry, cars on the road with the lights still on. ''Everything will be alright, I''m alone, but everything will be alright'' He thought when he saw the building he was going to. "Here we go" He said and then knocked the door. -- Secretary POV -- This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It is Thursday, 29 in February of 2024. Today I woke up to the 6:30, as usual. I live 30 minutes by bus from Moncloa where I work, so I cannot get up later. I had a shower, I got dressed, I had a cup of coffee and I left home. Still on the bus I saw the lights were turned on in the building where I work. ''Strange, the boss must be sick.'' I thought with a smile on my face as I pushed the button, indicating that I would get off at the next stop. Luis, my boss is a good boss, I mean, is demanding and hard-working, but nice. His work is not very important, but the people he know, and the ones he use to meet are important too, maybe it is because of his money. He is rich, awfully rich. Going up the stairs, I saw that indeed, the lights in Luis office were on. ¡°Uff, time to work." I whispered as I left my purse on the table. I was going to say hi to Luis when an unknown voice stopped me. "... sell in two years." "Good, good, then I¡¯ll give you the money, no problem" "... about ... identity ... eed to be sure..." "If you do it all online, i will take care of all so that there are no problems" "Good, I will be going to prepare it all, then fir ... web, servers ... and the ... embly line" "Ok, I hope the next time i see you, the snowball is unstoppable." "Yes, goodbye" By the time the door opened I already was in the other corner of the room as if searching something in my purse" "Ah, you go already?" I said turning around, wearing a huge smile. "Yes" The young man coldly said walking toward the door. As I was watching him leave with his light-brown jacket, my boss called me. "Clara come here" I did what he said immediately. "Who was him?" I said with straight face as if nothing unusual happened. "I can''t tell you Clara, and its better if you don''t know..., now, these are the documents you need to deliver to the bank" "Right away" I said leaving him alone. 0.2. The advertisement. 0.2. The advertisement. The winter had already come to Madrid the day that Victor first heard about "Plus Ultra". Victor stood in the doorway of his house looking for the keys in his pocket. A few minutes earlier he had endured the cold wind that blew through the streets and wildly pushed the leaves that had fallen from the trees. With nothing more than an anorak, walking down the sidewalk, he had tasted the snow in the air, and observed the rain in the sky. Just after crossing the door his lungs where filled of the moisture laden air and the musty smell from inside. In the past, this sensation made him ask the landlady if there was something rotten inside, but it has been a long time since he got used to it and now he was almost not aware of it. He closed the door and approaching the kitchen window, he looked how people accelerated in order to escape from the first drops of rain. Leaving his momentary trance, he opened the window enough to allow fresh air flow inside, and went to his bedroom. The attic where Victor lived could actually be called study for its small size. It only had a bedroom with his bed and the desk, a small bathroom and a kitchen big enough to fit a small table in it. So even if only the kitchen has fresh air, it¡¯s already a big part of the house He left his backpack on the bed, and with a sigh sat in front the computer. ¡®What an empty house, I wonder what are they doing at home.¡¯ He thought as he recalled the time when he was living with his parents and his brothers. The feeling of loneliness was quickly faded when he heard the sound the fan did as the computer was turned on. Sometime later, removed the eyes of the glossy screen and he realized that upon entering his room he had not turned on the light, the sun had already set, and if it were not for the screen, the room would have been completely dark. He turned on the light and looked at his watch on the computer. ESP | 21:18 26/01/2026 ¡®??Three hours!!¡¯ He cried in silence. ¡®It is like being swallowed by the time¡¯ Victor stood up and started walking toward the kitchen. A shiver ran through his entire body just by opening the door. The frozen breeze coming through the window caused the muscles of his face tense into a grotesque grimace. He closed the window immediately and opened the fridge to see what could be his dinner. ¡®Some cereals would be the easiest and fastest thing, but then there won¡¯t be for tomorrow¡¯s breakfast...¡¯ Not much later, it could be seen how he buttered a pan, and placed it to be heated while preparing two slices of bread, some ham and some cheese. Once toasted the sandwich, he grabbed a dessert plate and returned to his room. He sat front of the computer and then placed beside the keyboard the plate with the piece of sandwich that had not been devoured yet. He closed the main menu of the game he had been playing before dinner, and opened the browser. Several tabs from last session were still open. Thinking that he had nothing better to do, he decided to update some of the pages to see if there was something new. After updating his social networks, various forums about games and the e-mail, he decided to update a page about scientific and technological news. And there is where he saw it.
¡°Plus Ultra¡± opens his website announcing a new world: Plus Ultra has been presented as the new VR diver. Wrapped in secrecy at midday today several television and radio stations have begun to advertise this new gadget as a new way to live. Read more -> This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Having read the following paragraph he decided that it was not likely to find much more information in this page. Spinning the mouse wheel with his finger, he passed both text and photos without paying much attention, at the end of the post, he found what he was looking for. Experience had taught him that if you want to learn about something, the best way to get the information is to go to the official sources, and in all those posts there is a link to the official website. After the page loaded, on the screen remained open a simple web page, colored in grayscale. In the header of the page were the words [Reservations can be made starting March 2nd.] "Isn''t a month quite a short time? Normally this news come years in advance ... well, not that it matters ... there are always exceptions" He returned his gaze to the screen and continued reading. As he finished reading the greeting message, he rose from his chair and reached for his cell phone in the backpack. He opened his peer group in wha**app, and said: [Me]: Have you read about "Plus Ultra"? [Charles]: No [Dani]: Nope [Lucky]: Hahaha, are these again with those things about sects? [Me]: xD no, no, it¡¯s not a sect [Patrick]: You sure? Cause today I saw an ad on TV about it and it seemed proselytism. [Patrick]: It even promised a new world¡­ [Me]: Hahahaha [Me]: Actually it¡¯s a VR simulator that will start selling on March 2nd. [Lucky]: Another shit, they promise a lot, but then when you try it it¡¯s crap. [Me]: Yep, and this time, before its sale, there will be an exhibition for 10€ in IFEMA. [Charles]: 10 euros is not much, but still, how much will it cost? [Charles]: Whenever something like this comes out it costs a fortune¡­ [Petrus]: Well, if it has a low price, people would think it is a fraud, no one would buy it. [Dani]: Which platforms will work with it? [Me]: No idea, but looks like it will go on sale with an own game. [Me]: And about the price, I do not know either, I''ll look at it now. A couple of minutes later Victor picked up the phone again, and with a triumphant expression, skipped the new messages. [Me]: Already found it. Say a price. [Charles]: 1000 [Dani]: 1500 [Lucky]: 3000 [Petrus]: 999, 95 [Patrick]: 8500€ [Me]: You bastard¡­ [Me]: Yes, 8.500€, you''ve certainly searched it. [Patrick]: hahahaha [Lucky]: Are you kidding? [Charles]: That¡¯s a lot of money. [Me]: Nop, no kidding, no one will buy it¡­ $_$ [Petrus]: Unless it''s proven worth it. [Patrick]: I have continued looking about it and here it says that the exhibition will last 72h uninterrupted. [Patrick]: They will give information about the game and if you fulfill some characteristics written here, you will be able to try. [Patrick]: Carlos, you cannot. [Charles]: What? [Patrick]: Max 100kg ;) [Me]: hahahaha [Lucky]: Sorry Carlos [Charles]: You fuckers¡­, I¡¯m not that fat, I¡¯m 83kg [Dani]: You have a misprint, you have forgotten the 1 from 183 :))) [Lucky]: Hahahahaha [Petrus]: So we go or what? [Me]: Yep [Patrick]: Friday the 27th? [Dani]: Uff¡­ I go out with Clara every Friday... [Charles]: Hahaha, you have to ask permission to your owner? Letting them talk among themselves, Victor returned to the computer to see if he could find further information. But half an hour later, seeing the futility of his research he decided it was time to bed. So he brushed his teeth and with only his trunks remaining he closed his eyes and he recalled the events of the day. 0.3 Umbrella 0.3 Umbrella In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Victor spent most of his time going to the university and being a part-time worker in a supermarket. Internet news about "Plus Ultra" gradually disappeared, driven by the increasing discussions about the border areas. Food scarcity, and the distribution of territories of the former countries between the empires, had caused great unrest, and eventually the more and more frequent riots were seen. The first spring days had been slowly replacing the wintry cold. And though the last few days had been sunny, today dark atmosphere the characteristic of the rain clouds could be seen nearly the sun on the horizon. As he put the underground ticket into the slot, Victor said: ¡°Once again it¡¯s him who is missing? Those who arrive late will have to buy sweets for everyone!¡± ¡°Yep, him again¡± Carlos said as he sighed with the corners of the lips raised. ¡°Patri, do you know how long will it take him?¡± Patrick was the one who lived closer to Dani, so whenever the group met to have a drink the two of them came together. ¡°He is not coming, he has sent me a message telling me to come alone, that he would go directly¡± "Ok, then let''s go, we changed the day for his sake, and the fool oversleeps¡± (*) Clara had ¡°convinced¡± them that the best thing for everyone was to go on Saturday, today, so in the end they were unable to see the opening ceremony. Enough reason for them to exaggerate some random complaints. ¡°Hahaha, Don¡¯t be hard, he probably did overtime hours last night" ¡°Him? Ha! Not even beneath the sheets with Clara¡± Victor said jokingly. In these moments of happiness Victor would forget the emptiness he felt lately when alone. Being with friends or with his girlfriend he felt alive again, his insides clutched to that feeling, even knowing they were ephemeral. Fifteen minutes later we had already arrived at our destination, and as we climbed the stairs toward the exit. When there were not even ten steps left Patrick said aloud: ¡°Dani has arrived and is waiting us in the queue¡± His words were dimming, standing there at the top of the stairs, with the eyes wide open, the four friends watched the landscape before their eyes. Thousands of people forming a queue of which nor the beginning nor the end could be seen, and whose shape could only be guessed by the immense and zigzagging curve with higher density of people. Before his eyes a stream of people of at least three meters wide at its central part were waiting with a festive mood. ¡°Thank goodness we were able to buy the tickets online!¡± an amazed Carlos said still motionless. ¡°Yup, I¡¯m a genius¡± Pedro said proudly. ¡°Let¡¯s move¡± Victor said giving Carlos a pat on the shoulder. Once found the entrance, they began to look for Dani while walking in parallel with the queue, but though it was nothing compared to the other one, this queue was still enormous. Sometime later, they noticed that a familiar face was waiting, seated behind a group of girls. ¡°No wonder it has been so difficult to find you, there is no way we can notice you by their side, have you seen that blonde? Gorgeous!¡± Victor whispered in Daniel¡¯s ear after silently approaching from behind. Startled, Daniel turned around and with an evil grin and winked at him to immediately stand up and greet the others. Several hours later, when, if it were not for the because of the clouds that completely covered the sky, the sun would have already reached its zenith, the five friends were sitting on the ground taking a drink while talking. Having worn cards and not being able to say anything new about video games or their social relationships, the conversation was dangerously drifting towards politics. [Victor]: Ha! Are you saying we should have invested in an energy whose residues can¡¯t even be stored safely? [Dani]: No, I''m just saying that if we had invested in nuclear energy research, perhaps now we would not be an enslaved country. [Patrick]: Well, try to take advantage of the French researches and invest in renewable energies to calm the people of that time does not seem to be bad idea. It is very easy talk about what could have been done. [Victor]: Also, if we had invested in investigation we would not have overcome the crisis, we would still be in recession. [Lucas]: Who says we''re out of it? Everyone knows about European pressure at that time, without it Spain would now be a republic and perhaps even a communism. [Patrick]: If so, we would have been the first target of the former US, like Venezuela or Colombia. It doesn¡¯t seem a very desirable situation you know¡­ [Pedro]: For better or worse the communism is still not viable for the Spaniards, if we had reduced expenditures in useless jobs and ineffective aids earlier and invested in automated assembly lines perhaps things would be different. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. [Dani]: Well, although I must admit that for example helps to the coal industry were already unnecessary years, the number of jobs that would have been lost by automation would have left a mess in our society. [Patrick]: That''s where you''re wrong, take the example of the American Empire, in the beginning maybe it was a bit disastrous, but after people began to start their own businesses, and the... [Lucas]: It¡¯s raining [Victor]: Fuck! In the blink of an eye, Danny and Victor had already lifted off the ground and the others drew their umbrellas from the backpacks. With the already opened umbrellas, they looked at the people around them, the rain was already falling torrentially on their heads, and right in front of them, three girls huddled their bodies together to fit under a single umbrella. ¡®Wow! What a great opportunity!! Too bad it¡¯s not my umbrella¡¯ Victor thought while turning his head to the right where Daniel blinked an eye as if reading his mind. From the corner of her eye he saw as one from his group approached the girls. ¡°Excuse me girls!!¡± Pedro, the one them, and the only one with an umbrella only for himself said loudly trying to be heard over the noise of the rain. ¡°?Yes?¡± Asked the blonde girl turning around to face him. ¡°Well I saw you it was a bit cramped under that umbrella, so I thought that maybe you want to come with us and one of you come to share my umbrella, that coupled with the attention you were you put while listening our discussion from earlie ¡­¡± ¡°You can give us a moment?¡± ¡°But of course, you have all the time in the world¡± answered waving his hand and returning with the others. ¡°Well done!!¡± whispered Lucas with shining eyes as he focused above Pedro¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Good, I guess you join us¡± said Victor when the tree girls had already come close ¡°Yes, it was a good idea¡± said one of the brunettes, the shortest one. ¡°By the way, I¡¯m Cris and they are Laura and Carmen¡± said having realized the smile Victor was trying to hide and pointing the tallest girl first. ¡°I¡¯m Victor, and they are Dani, Patricio, Lucas and Pedro¡± ¡®Up close they are even sexier!!¡¯ he thought while talking From the point of view of anyone who would have noticed, the situation would have been considered at least, outstanding, not only because the beauty of each of the young ladies, with probably little more than twenty years each one, but also because the set the three formed. Laura, the tallest of the three, had the ideal body to be a model. Through his fur jacket and brown jersey, one could sense medium sized breasts and the small skirt she wore clung to her thin hip giving shape to some dangerous curves. Under the skirt two long legs were embellished by a pair stockings and two beautiful dark brown suede boots, which further highlighted her slender figure. Her long and sleek black hair in addition to the thin red lips she had made hard not to lose the concentration needed to realize the little green she had in her brown eyes. Cristhina, the blonde one, was slightly more than 1,70m, her body, covered by a garnet coat, a pair of dark blue jeans and black cloth shoes, had a slim style, similar to ballet dancers, with a small bust and small ass. What was charming about her was her face, a perfect curled blond hair falling over his shoulders, her perfect smile between the two rosy lips that caused stir among the boys, but she even had some intense and full colored eyes, in her iris, the colors transformed themselves and went from a dark blue at the outer edge, to an increasingly light blue that ended with an brown, almost yellow, ring around the pupil. Lastly, Carmen should be around 5cm shorter than Cris, and of the three, probably she was the one closest to the 90-60-90 ratio. Her clothes, were a little tight, and showed some curves that made boys around her dizzy, her relatively round face adorned with rippled dark brown hair was, at most, cute, but perhaps the most highlighted thing about her was the flirty look radiating from her green eyes. After being presented counter clockwise, leaving Victor and Pedro at the sides of the girls, Laura moved to Pedro¡¯s umbrella and so the conversations progressively flowed through the group. Victor and Chris gradually distanced themselves from the other to the point of sharing an umbrella slightly apart of the group. Pedro and Laura were playing cards, commenting every now and then about the others talk. Dani, Lucas, Patrick and Carmen meanwhile chatted about their lives. That way they continued as time went on and the line advanced. Until finally, the moment to enter the exhibition main building came.