“He actually did all this?” Kyla whispered to herself as she searched through old papers hidden behind the boxes below her father’s side of her parents’ wardrobe. Written on these papers were blueprints of a theoretical spaceship engine that could help get ships to the speed of light–or even faster. At least that was what was written in the calculations scrawled around the margins of the blueprints. Kyla sorted these stray files into neatly-organized clearbooks she had bought from the store earlier.
Now, all this would’ve been great, if only her father was still alive–or if only Element 125 had been discovered when these blueprints were submitted to the Technology Department. Kyla sighed, “We wouldn’t have to import any more expensive engines,” She muttered to herself, “If only it was possible.”
Hungry, she rode the elevator downstairs to the kitchen where the synthetic food maker sat next to a toaster. Kyla only ever used that maker when she was feeling particularly lazy with food prep. Her mother resented the habit, fearing that consuming such may have caused her father’s early demise. She grabbed the cup, put it onto the tray, and chose her preferred flavor from the myriad of options that the appliance allowed. Today’s choice was a cup of tomato and cheese flavorings.
Kyla propped herself up on the large curved sofa encircling the living room. She opened up her tablet to choose what to watch, and projected that onto the blank curved wall that served as an entertainment system. “Beginnings, a period piece about the 21st century,” she was reading out loud the options before settling on “Powerful, a hero’s journey set in the present day.”
The endless toil of the work in the Central Luzon mine never really bothered Pollux, who was pretty much physically fit save for his hearing impairment on his right ear. What bothered him instead was the feeling of not really finishing anything. “How can you even finish searching this planet’s ores?” He lamented as he sipped synthetic apple flavor at the breakroom, located two floors below ground level.
“Eh, it’s simple, kid,” A tall man sitting at one of the chairs by the giant synthetic food maker said, “you don’t.” He wasn’t any bigger than Pollux, but his muscles were more toned from working at that mine for nearly a decade.
That answer seemed to satisfy Pollux somewhat, as he had returned to sipping. The tracker on his right arm showed that he had only done a fourth of the day’s work, so he had a lot to catch up to. The silver wasn’t going to mine itself, he thought.
Back down at the mines, something caught Pollux’s eye. He noticed a strange purple shimmer that didn’t quite look like the typical amethyst ores he’d occasionally found before. Pollux marveled at its strangeness, and he wondered what this seemingly new purple mineral was. He took a few more and put it onto a separate compartment, away from the silver ores that were part of his work.
He managed to complete the day’s work an hour early, motivated by the curiosity he had over those purple minerals. Pollux wanted to ask a scientist he knew, a former professor named Mr. Cortez, about the minerals he found.
It took a few days, but a fateful call he received one afternoon from Mr. Cortez sealed it. The minerals he had found in the deep mine were classified as the elusive Element 125.
“The dishes won’t wash themselves!” Kyla’s mother yelled. She was the type to refuse most technological advancements, so when dishwashers became mainstream in the metro, she refused to oblige and instead continued to do it the old-fashioned way. Kyla was bothered with it, but she got used to her mother’s tendencies.
Kyla was halfway through washing the dishes then their TV suddenly came on. It only ever does that for major breaking news, so she was concerned. The news reporters sounded excited, so she figured that it must be good news. We’re reporting live from Central Luzon, where a silver miner named Pollux Fierro allegedly found traces of the coveted Element 125 while he was doing his work at the Grand Luzon Mine, which was formerly farmlands.” As the reporter continued on with the news report, Kyla’s mouth was agape. She couldn’t believe it! Element 125–the final ingredient her dad had waited for ‘till the end of his life—was real.
Kyla quickly went back to her mom, who was busy typing up a report for work. Since her dad’s loss, her mom had done nothing but work all day and all night. One of the few new things she religiously used was an IV drip that prevented her from sleeping, especially when she had lots of backlogs at work. Kyla was concerned for her, but her mom always told her that work was important.
“Mom, they found 125,” Kyla said excitedly without a beat. She didn’t have to explain what ‘125’ was, as her mother knew that she had been obsessing over it even back when her dad was alive. “Mom!” Her mom couldn’t hear her over the frustrated tapping of keys on her computer. Earlier that day, she told Kyla that this was a particularly important report, so she had to work on it all day.
“Give it up,” Her mom groaned, still typing on the computer. “They never cared when your dad was alive,” She said with much frustration in her voice. “Why would they now? They want to profit off importing.” Kyla had gotten used to her mother being a pessimist, but she really wanted her to believe that there is hope for her dad’s invention to finally gain traction. At least Kyla would like to believe that there was hope.
“Good news: It isn’t radioactive,” Mr. Cortez said as he read out to Pollux his team’s findings about the element, “This has potential for many uses, and I encourage you to find them. I believe in you, you were quite a bright student of mine.” Pollux nodded in response, eager to figure out what uses this new element had. He’d only taken one year of engineering, though, so he didn’t have many novel ideas in his mind. He hoped that he could find a use for it that could very well change his life.
Pollux went home that day filled to the brim with excitement. “What’s up?” Kenji, his younger brother, asked while he was watching TV. He was eating some cheap synthetic food pellets while deeply engrossed in the newest TV series. “Got any exciting news? You could make a business out of that thing!”
Pollux groaned, “Ken, stop pestering me about starting a business.” He went straight to the table next to the living room and opened the documents that Mr. Cortez gave him earlier. He studied the findings with great fascination in hopes that this could change their life. As he was poring over the documents, his phone rang.
“Hello, is this Pollux Fierro?” The voice of a young woman asked.
Kyla and Pollux talked for hours, she spoke about her enthusiasm for the discovery as she detailed her father’s prototype. Pollux sounded intrigued by what she was saying. She hoped that this could be the beginning of something that could finally cement her father’s legacy.
She walked down the noisy streets of the city, taking in her surroundings. The superconductor sidewalk whirred with the sound of hoverboards and other hovering transportation zooming through it. She preferred to walk on the regular sidewalk, as she feared falling from hovercrafts. One of the structures she walked by was the government research facility that her dad worked in. She stared at the large globe statue that sat just short of the large gates. I don’t know anyone there anymore, she thought. She remembered how the new guy that got appointed shortly after her dad’s death expressed disinterest in their old projects, instead focusing on other things. She was stumped on how to go about this now.
She idly looked at the people walking in and out of the complex, the chatter of the young employees complementing the background noise of the city.
It was one of the rare moments that Pollux called out of work, opting instead to rest. The buzz surrounding Element 125 had tired him out for the meantime. The only person he’d been actively talking to during the past few days was Kyla, with the occasional chat with Mr. Cortez. Denny, his younger brother, asked earlier if he could go to the nearby playground—which he agreed, but he decided not to accompany him, opting to trust Denny that he’ll get home without a scratch.
His afternoon nap was cut short by Denny yelling, “Pollux! I gotta tell you what I saw!” Pollux groaned at his nap being interrupted, still feeling the tiredness from the past few weeks. “There was a giant spaceship near the playground. It was hidden but I saw it while exploring.”
The next day, Pollux took Denny back to the place where the spaceship was supposedly hidden. Denny led him to the specific area that he remembered seeing the ship at. He was skeptical at first, but he spotted it—bits of metal sticking out from the mass of soil that eroded over it some time ago.
Later that day, Pollux went back to the area. He used a makeshift pickaxe from some scraps to crack open the mass of soil, revealing the spaceship from beneath. “Woah,” Pollux gasped at the sight, “This is beautiful.”
That night, Pollux sent Kyla a picture of the ship. He hoped something would come out of this.
Days passed by and the two had been doing nothing but talk about the ship. As it turns out, the ship Pollux saw was indeed an incomplete prototype that Kyla’s father helped build. The only thing missing was the core carrying the fuel—Element 125. To talk about further plans, Kyla agreed to pay half of Pollux’s travel expenses so he could travel to the metro.
She brought him to her favorite hangout spot—a cafe that runs on artificial intelligence. It would detect a customer’s arrival and instantly start to make their favorite type of coffee based on data from posts on the Internet. Pollux was intrigued at the idea. “There’s no cafe like this in Central Luzon, only mines and factories. My grandparents told me that there were also farms back in the day.”
The two spent the rest of the time poring over the printed blueprints that Kyla’s dad left behind. Pollux noted which parts were there and which had been broken due to wear, as it sat below a mass of land for a long time. Kyla also brought her father’ journal where he wrote down his detailed thoughts and theories about how the ship would work. “We can make this work now, Pollux,” Kyla said, “I could probably contact his old coworkers—the ones who supported him—and ask them to help us.”
“Do you like her?” Kenji bothered Pollux all day for not going to work again, “You’re skipping work just for this?” Pollux was too focused on studying the blueprints and making a few calculations here and there to listen to his brother being deliberately annoying. He was marveling at how intricate Kyla’s father—whose name he learned was Isidro—planned it all out. Pollux didn’t think too much about his feelings for Kyla, but it was something that he knew was beginning to bubble inside.
Pollux later paused what he was doing, thinking back to how his studies came to an abrupt end after his mother got into an accident. He had wanted to be an engineer so bad, but his mother’s medications and care had to come first. The next best thing was to apply to work at one of the many mines that had scattered throughout the region since a generation or two ago. He had spent the last half-decade toiling at the mines until that fateful discovery weeks ago. The discovery gave him hope that he could, in the near future, continue his dream.
For days, Kyla spent her time contacting her dad’s old coworkers, many of whom had moved on to different cities or even further parts of the country. Nicole—his loyal secretary and who Kyla considers as an aunt—moved back home to her province with her new family.
Nevertheless, she contacted her and the others, and they for the most part agreed to help out, setting a date to meet her and Pollux. Kyla was excited to relive her precious memories of hanging out with her father’s staff back when he was actively working. They helped raise her as her mom was too busy with her own work. Nicole and Jasmine—one of her dad’s favored staff, who she considers as an older sister—helped her during many of the tough times that she went through when she was younger.
“Seriously?!” Pollux was mad at his brother again. Their backyard sounded like the barangay sports complex with all the cheering over a basketball game. Kenji had decided to invite friends over, much to the disdain of Pollux. He found it hard to concentrate on researching with all the noise nearby.
Pollux thought through his options, one of which was to find a place to temporarily stay in at the metro where he can or in peace—and near Kyla. He asked her if she knew any places and she recommended a rental place her old classmate’s family owned. He was hesitant to go at first, as he didn’t want to leave behind the place he’d called home all his life—even temporarily. What motivated him to go was the high likelihood for the project to succeed.
It was one of those days that Kyla decided to bike around the city. She decided to take a detour and bike around the older parts of town, the remnants of a chaotic era—the 21st century. Most of those that emailed in this part of town were the ones just getting by in their daily lives—many living paycheck to paycheck.
She spotted her favorite place to go when she visited this area, a street corner that had an old waiting shed. Behind the shed was an abandoned commercial building that looked straight out of the early to mid 21st century. Kyla sat at the waiting shed, despite not really waiting for anything. She opted to visit here due to wanting a change of pace, as the past days had been busy.
“Oh, you’re here!” Kyla looked towards the voice that spoke. She recognized the woman as Jasmine who looked way more casual than she did when they last met. Her green and brown hair was pulled into a bun.
“Kyla! It’s been so long!” Jasmine greeted, “I received your message by the way, when is this starting?”
“Nicole and the others have yet to coordinate on a date, so it’s still being set.” Kyla said cheerfully, “Pollux and I are so excited for this, you know.”
“I am, too, Kyla,” Jasmine smiled, holding Kyla’s shoulder, “I remember how much you wanted the project to happen when your Dad was around.” Jasmine looked at Kyla with pride. Kyla gave her a hearty smile.
The two then sat at the waiting shed, talking about the things they were up to. “I work at a bodymod store,” Jasmine said, “It’s on the other side of town. You should come visit sometime.” Kyla found it cool that Jasmine got so fascinated with technology that she ended up working at a place where they replace people’s body parts with mechanical ones.
The capsule hotel was packed with different types of people. Many were transient travelers from nearby regions, a small chunk were even from a different part of the solar system coming home to visit family. Then there was Pollux, on a mission to help Kyla make space travel cheaper. He mused over the blueprints before tucking them neatly on the bedside, lest a curious traveler touch it. Ambient noise filled the hotel, with some more extroverted travelers interacting with one another. Pollux wasn’t quite like that, so he stayed there, quietly reading from his tablet.
Kyla’s arrival didn’t take long. She told him that she caught up with Jasmine—a good sign. She told him all about what they talked about, from what Jasmine was up to until what the further plans for this project were. One thing they couldn’t figure out was where to legally renovate the ship. “I mean that place my brother saw it in, it’s an abandoned field,” Pollux suggested, “We could just use that place.”
“And risk being seen?” Kyla said, mildly amused, “We have to find a more isolated spot.”
“Or we could put GI-sheet walls up the place so no one can see us ‘till it’s finished!” Pollux grinned as he realized what to do. Transporting the ship to a more isolated place runs bigger risks of being seen, so this is their next best bet.
A few months passed by and the plan was set in motion. Mr. Cortez agreed to help the two, as well as their team, get ready for the undertaking of this project. It’s been years since Isidro’s team worked on the ship, so naturally they needed a refresher. Before all this, Kyla’s main interest wasn’t in the sciences at all, but she did her best to learn what she needed to for this project to go well.
The GI-sheet barricades had been put up surrounding the area of the abandoned ship. Pollux instructed Denny to just tell the others in the neighborhood that there was an ongoing sensitive project. Pollux muttered, “I hope that it veers away at least a few pairs of eyes away from the area.”
Nicole helped with errands like nourishments and other materials. Jasmine helped oversee, making sure that the project was going smoothly, without any conflicts or mistakes.
Meanwhile, Kyla and Pollux had spent days and nights inside Mr. Cortez’s laboratory, working on the ship’s core. Element 125, while not radioactive, was still rather delicate, so they had to be careful to not break the samples they had.
“Just a few more left…” Kyla mutters while assembling the shell of the core, made from the same material as the rest of the ship. It was a large circular core that was meant to sit in a room below the cockpit area of the ship. “I can’t believe this is going to be real, Pollux.”
“Me too. Our lives are going to change,” Pollux smiled at her, giving her a small wink. Kyla laughed at his wink, telling him to just focus on the work. “Aww, come on.” Pollux teased.
Kyla thought about that wink for the rest of that day. She began to wonder if Pollux had started to feel something different about their bond. She felt conflicted though, since she never saw them past being friends, but she can’t tell him that as it could easily derail their project. She began to suspect that something was up with him, but couldn’t pinpoint what.
The renovation was coming to a close, with only a few more things to add and kinks to iron out. Pollux thought that maybe the team could use a group dinner at an eatery he used to frequent years ago.
When they got to the eatery, Kyla’s mouth was agape. The lady running the place was Miss Aria, her babysitter back in childhood. She left the family when Kyla was eighteen, as she had met someone and they got married.
“Miss Aria!” Kyla cheered as she approached her. “Oh, I have so much to tell you,” She added, “But my friends and I gotta eat first.” Kyla chuckled.
Pollux did not expect this at all, as all he knew about Aria was her being the eatery lady with two children running around the place. He began to wonder how his fate was sealed for him and Kyla to meet—-and the feelings he was developing for her.
He only gave small signs of how he felt, seeing as he didn’t want to ruin the mood, especially now that they were so close to completing the ship. He sometimes caught himself frowning at times as Kyla never really returned the signs. What if she didn’t feel the same way?
Pollux thought that maybe he needed to stop being distracted by these thoughts. He had to think first about the ship, and how it could help him help his family after all this—maybe he can even return to school.
“Are you okay there?” Kyla asked. Pollux snapped out of zoning out, not realizing he was still at the group dinner.
“Uh, I’m fine,” Pollux waved his hands as if nothing was wrong, “I was just daydreaming about—“
“Our success? You’re really excited,” Kyla playfully interrupted, laughing. The rest of the table gave a chuckle as well. Four of the eatery’s tables were merged to seat them all, and it’s filled with various traditional foods, such as sinigang and liempo. Eateries were one of the few places one could still get traditional food from, aside from expensive restaurants in the city.
The dinner went well, with a jolly crowd and much of the food being consumed. Miss Aria agreed for the others to be able to take home leftovers. Miss Aria and Kyla did some catching up before the latter returned to her table.
After the group dinner, Pollux approached Kyla, “Hey, so about earlier,” He started. Kyla looked at him rather intrigued at what he was about to say. The two were standing in front of the eatery next to a busy street. The others were just behind, talking amongst themselves.
“I was actually thinking about my feelings for you.” Pollux swallowed the lump on his throat.
He could only look as Kyla stormed off, silently wondering where she was going to go—the metro being hours away from here. The rest of the group looked at him as he stood alone on that sidewalk. The night was young but the feelings were already cold.
Going home felt bitter for Kyla, as she decided to pause from the project to reevaluate everything. Her mom was—as usual—glued to the computer screen, typing up whatever report she needed, not even noticing her early return.
Was Pollux really only in it to get with her? She thought infuriatingly while looking at the blueprints—now scrawled with lots of notes from the renovation. She felt guilty for the sudden pause in helming the group she formed, but if she was being honest, the equally-sudden confession really caught her off-guard.
After a lengthy rant-filled conversation to one of her closest friends, she put all her devices on mute, ensuring no message from any of her team was coming through. Her days were filled with sleep and frustration.
One day, after her fifth gulp of synthetic liquid, Kyla decided to take a walk at the old district as she always did whenever she felt the least bit stressed. Today, the old buildings somehow looked much more worn down than before. The waiting shed fell into disrepair, making her realize just how long it was since she last visited this place. With no benches to sit on, she sat directly on the old sidewalk, nestling her back on a wall.
She was almost dozed off when she heard footsteps nearby. She looked towards the direction of the footsteps and—-
“Denny? What are you doing here?” She asked, surprised that she saw Pollux’s brother wandering the metro seemingly alone. He looked like he hadn’t bathed in days, and his clothes showed some wear. He only carried with him a small bag—presumably full of coins. Scratches covered his knees, affecting his walking.
“We don’t have money anymore, especially for our mom,” Denny said, tears welling from his eyes, “My other brother Kenji forced me to go to the metro to beg for alms.”
Kyla couldn’t speak. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. Pollux had told her that Kenji was notoriously pushy, but she did not expect this. Deep inside, she felt such an immense amount of guilt, as her storming off played a part in the situation Denny was in now. She looked at Denny with a pitiful smile, “Come here, come here,” She said softly as she pulled the kid into a hug. Kyla cried, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have abandoned you guys.” She nursed his wounds with her hygiene kit and some old cloth she had on her bag. “How long have you been out there? Weeks?”
Rain began to pour from the skies, good thing Kyla had picked an area with good shade. She and Denny sat there for a while as they watched the rain pour. Kyla continued comforting the kid as he told her about what he experienced out there. “I tripped on a large chunk of metal,” Denny said as he pointed to one of the wounds on his knees—now covered in cloth.
Kyla took Denny to her place, making sure he was clean and well for when they returned to Central Luzon. She didn’t normally cook, but she did for Denny, seeing as she owed him so much after abandoning what could’ve avoided this. They wouldn’t travel back up north until Denny was fully healed.
“She’s back!” Pollux’s sleeping on the hammock in front of his house was interrupted by Nicole’s yelling. “Pollux, got up! She’s back!” Pollux yawned, but got up. He was hesitant to come face-to-face with her again after months of no contact. She never answered any of his messages or calls, leaving him in a state of despair for months now.
He cautiously approached Kyla as she neared his house. “Hi,” Pollux began, “I have to say that I owe you the biggest apology ever. I ruined everything over some fleeting feelings I had.” He said, Kyla looking at him amused.
“Oh don’t be. It was me who overreacted,” She chuckled at herself, “I was too focused on the project that when you confessed—“ Kyla sighed as she remembered how angry she was before,”I thought you were in it just for me.”
Pollux couldn’t help but laugh, “Kyla, I’m not doing all this just to get the girl,” He said amusingly, “I am doing this because I actually care and want to see it completed, for both your sake and mine,” He looked at the rest of the team who were welcoming Kyla back, “And all of theirs.”
Kyla pulled Pollux into a friendly hug, tears welled from both their eyes, “Thanks, that’s great to hear.” Denny ran next to her side, “Her’s Denny again, I managed to get him off those streets. Tell Kenji to leave and never come back.” The three of them laugh.
Pollux pulled away from the hug and faced the team. “Alright, looks like we have a ship to finish.” He cheered, and so did the whole team—and Kyla.
Soon enough, everyone was back to their motions, Pollux and Kyla were able to finally continue building the rest of the core containing Element 125.
Weeks later was the big reveal, and many were invited. Kyla’s mom even paused her work to come see her daughter’s hard work. Many former and current high-ranking government officials, especially from the research agency, were there to witness Isidro’s legacy finally come into fruition. Even the nearby towns had people come to witness what was to be the maiden launching of a ship that took nearly two decades to finish.
“If your father was here, he would really be proud of you, Kyla,” Her dad’s old boss said to her, smiling. Tears of joy welled from Kyla’s eyes as she looked at the finished product—the first of many ships that the country would finally make on its own, without importing a single thing.
Pollux ran up to her after he made his speech, “You ready to fly it?” He chuckled. Kyla nodded and the two got ready to go into the ship. They wore aptly-colored purple special suits that would protect them from the effects of zero G. A camera drone was to follow them to film the whole voyage to the moon and back.
As the ship was nearly faster than light thanks to Element 125, the voyage only took a few minutes. A large screen televised the voyage to the crowd watching, as well as to people’s homes through the news networks that were present. Everyone saw how well the two maneuvered the ship towards the moon, circled around it, and came back down to Earth.
The maiden voyage was a success. Everyone clapped as the ship descended back into its launching pad. As Kyla and Pollux both alight, the crowds cheered harder, even chanting their names. At that time, they felt truly on cloud 9, for they managed to complete it even after all of the obstacles that they faced.
A year later, Kyla was enjoying her newfound fortune, happy that her mother didn’t need to glue herself to the computer for work anymore as they had enough to go around. Pollux was back in university, continuing his engineering studies. The two would occasionally hang out between their respective busy schedules, sometimes with some of the team that helped them.
“I did it, Dad,” Kyla said tearfully as she hugged a framed photo of her dad. Her mom joined in on the hug, patting Kyla’s back. After all, she did all this.
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