He was already up and tinkling around with his perfected invention when Thomas walked in, hair ruffled. Alex didn't even try to hide the thing, since there was no point in doing it now-if Thomas was going to jump up into the air, angered that Alex had gathered such great materials for development and assault his invention, Alex Mars was going to attack back, protecting his Unmuter for life.
However, Thomas only gaped at the device in his hands merely instead of growling and chastising Alex Mars.
"Can I ask something what the heck is that, Alex?" was what he said. Alex waved it in the air, smiling the rare smile of his.
"Well, it's an Unmuter. I don't know, the name just stuck all of a sudden at 4 in the morning today," "Jesus, what were you doing last night?" Alex Mars grinned sheepishly. "Creative thinking," Thomas suddenly backed up, eyes wide as golf balls. "Wait, wait, wait, man. I just have slow reactions. What? Un-Muter? What does that-" He jutted out his jaw at the Unmuter. "-have to do with the Muters?" Behind him, Alex heard Miles make his stampede down the stairs. "This has a Muter inside-at least, the chips inside the thing. And I thought I need it desperately for my own benefit." "Explain, Alex-speak English," Alex sighed. "I'm Muted, Thomas. Though the thing inside my head has become dull lately, I want my ears to...um, turn off and on on my command, for it is annoying to have unworking nor too-well working ears," Alex spit it out, climbing out of the bed. Thomas watched dumb, eyes frozen, for seconds until he melted a bit. "You've been Muted?" He asked, somehow with pity. Alex nodded, making his bed silently. "So, show me what it does at the breakfast table," Thomas scrunch up his face as if it brought up some terrible memories. He's gotten a bit tight with me lately, Alex thought, frowning. Somehow, friendships inside the Raiders had flipped a lot, except for the girls. He could only hope that his relationship with them wouldn't flip like the boys, at least.
Rubbing his eyes from the lack of sleep(to be exact, it had been only 3 hours of sleep), he walked slowly downstairs, bones in his feet and legs groaning out loud, eyes stiff, but brain alert. What I only need all the time is for my brain to be alert, so I'm fine now, Alex thought. When he reached the kitchen, he found the rest of the Raiders already awake and chewing pills and staring out at the window, which framed a view of the lawn, which was sleek with rainwater from last night, but it was not raining now. Melanie, still dressed in pajama pants, was drowsily licking the bottom of a pill, twirled around once she heard Alex's footsteps, then gave him the most extreme of smiles, if that exists, and Alex could only force a smile on for her, though his muscles near the mouth weren't cooperating too well. Lyra was frowning at Alex even harder than the first day, then turned her gaze at Melanie's head, eyes alert like always, hair straight and falling down her shoulders. Alex frowned back at her reaction to him, and approached her, about to ask what she was frowning about him, when Miles cleared his throat. Inevitably, Alex had to turn away. "Aren't we going on Raids today?" He asked at Miles, who was flexing his arms wide of the room, necessitating anyone approaching him to be wary of his swaying arms. "Rain might come later this day, and we deserve a rest-we just goof around and do anything we want on Sundays," "It's a Sunday?" Alex asked. But before Miles could answer, his brain calculated that it was a Sunday. Gee, time had been fast and he hadn't been to concentrate on those stuff. "So, what did you come up with last night?" Miles suddenly asked. "Possibly, some machinery to install in my planes?" He added, voice full of hope. Alex shook his head. "Well, no. I'm sorry Miles. I just had to utilize it for myself." At that, Lyra's eyes flickered over to him once more, and Alex tried not to be surprised from the swiftness.
"I also knew it won't be for one of my pigeon-planes. Show us, Alex," Just right on time, Thomas descended down the stairs, a dirty rag in one hand. "Hell, rain seeped in through the roof. Nothing much to worry of, though-I dealt with it. Alex, grab some pills," "I'm not hungry, nor need nutrition desperately," Thomas' mouth set into a firm line, and Lyra rolled her eyes. "So what was the talk before Thomas came in all about?" Melanie asked. Alex sighed. "I invented something, though it's hard to say I invented them, since I just put in already existing," Alex pulled something out from his jean pockets, waving it in the air at the others. They all stared at it, concentrated. "This is an Unmuter. I have been Muted when I was 4-" A tiny sigh and gasp swirled through the circle of them. "-and my ears haven't been working too well to their full potential since then. But most of its capacity has come back after years. But having too good ears all of a sudden is also not very good, so I made this thing out of the devices I got yesterday. One of the devices had the primary parts of a Muter inside, so I got the idea. This one'll help me Mute and Unmute my Muter inside my head, since I found it capable of connection very luckily with each other. Plus, it is triggered by another device I found inside the horde of stuff I uncovered," He now pulled out a switch from his pants pocket, then took a deep breath. "This is going to be my ears for me. I'm not very sure if it works, but let's find out," He now flicked the switch on, and found Lyra's eyes calculating the value of the switch.
A strange buzz filled his ears and he waited in anticipation as the Muter inside his brain-for the first time in his life, he could actually feel its real, actual presence at the moment-connected with the switch and did as he had programmed it newly last night. After the buzz, it finally slowed down, then stopped altogether.
Alex Mars hadn't known that the Muter had been turned on inside his brain since he was simply too used to it. But now, when it was turned off, he finally realized that there had been a constant buzz from the device inside his brain, and that he hadn't simply noticed it.
So it was now dead, turned off.
After years.
It wasn't of a big difference, though-his brain had been efficient in making the Muters dull, making his ears almost as good as its actual state. Still, Alex was taken to amazement when he felt them tune closer to every single piece of note his environment made, sometimes though lowly, the sounds of the other Raiders' eyebrows or eyes flickering, catching up every sound of anything moved on them.
"Say something," he commanded, unbelieving.
"Um, Jesus on a freaking pogo stick," Miles said, then after pausing, added. "Um, anything... new?"
Alex nodded avidly. "Your voice was bigger, much more clearer. The Unmuters are going to be useful," Alex said, then flicked back the switch, and relaxed as the constant buzz of the Muter returned to him, and sighed in relief. Of course, need makes an invention, Al, he thought. "Well, let's hope that's going to help us a lot," Melanie said, smiling at Alex once more. "It sure is going to," Alex Mars said as he pushed the switch back into his pocket smugly, so proud of himself-this was his first-ever invention, and it was going to make his life better for sure.
He was considering where to strap the switch onto himself(on the arm or leg or just his pockets) when Thomas jumped up when his phone abruptly beeped shrilly. Alex could only be glad at the fact that he had managed to Unmute his Muter just before the emittance of the beeps.
"Hell, it's Lew. He's relying on us a lot lately," Thomas said as if he was a lot annoyed by the early morning call. Before anyone could comment, he stuck the phone to his ear, then waited until Lewis's voice shouted at him from the other side, which Alex heard clearly even with his Muted ears.
"Tom, Tom, Tom! Something's terribly wrong,"
"Fuck, what's the matter today?"
"A lot, Tom. First: our expert scientists found that no food has survived the fire inside the Food Store, so we're going to starve, since food cannot be grown in a single day, as you know. Second, we detected changes in the military action of the U.S. army. Strengthened, fortified borders, thicker soldier lines, even a few venturing out far to the direction of us, though they quit in 4 hours. Shit. They have always known our existence, yes, but why are they suddenly interested in us? Come on, I don't want to rely on a group of brainy teens too much, obviously, but it's the most strangest and difficult challenges. Are the rest of you awake? Get here instantly," They all froze as Lewis' words spilled over them like fountain water, undisturbed, and as quick as Thomas' rap. Then a beep told them that the man had disconnected first.
"Lewis is almost always tranquil. And that call was crazy," Miles finally said after a long silence of shock inside the group.
"-and that, obviously, means that... something is seriously wrong, my friends," He added.
Though the Raiders all knew that food scarcity wasn't a huge problem for them yet, thanks to the packet of pills, they still knew better than the ignore it. They were also the Rebels, and the death of the Rebels would mean the death of the Raiders. And death seemed inevitable with food scarcity. Not only that, Alex reminded of himself, the U.S. government had gone from cowardice to insanity finally. He now worried about his parents and Chris. Then with horror, suddenly remembered that he didn't know if they were alive or hadn't been tortured because of his identity as a Prodigy. He had been too busy and diligent as the Raiders over the past few days after getting banished...
Chasting himself, he knew he had to do something decisive before something worse could happen.
"We have to go to the headquarters and see Lewis face-to-face. There just can't be no way to not let us be demolished, though I understand I'm keeping too far into the future," No one smirked at his jumbled up words, but nodded. Thomas dialed his phone once more. "I'll text him that we'll be going," As the other boy texted, Miles stared at the device in Alex's hands. "Jesus, things are strange, Alex. Do you have any plans?"
Mars shook his head. "Not yet, but once we get there, some might pop int existence,"
Thomas wasn't in the best mood that day as he drove his car, the Raiders jammed into the space. As he drove, hands busy on the wheel, he didn't let anyone bother his talk with the wheel, which was, strangely, not connected to any other car or driver-he was talking to the wheel for nothing.
"I mean, we're not nannies who have to clean up the mess caused by a mistake in the apartment's fire alarm, nor a nanny to clean up the matters of a shitty country which pushed us out and is now tending to furthen its attack! Well, it is true that the matter needs to be handled, but why are we, in particular, needed?"
"No person similar to the spoken data found." The wheel answered stupidly.
"Fuck, you don't have to speak, you piece of car, you only need to listen to me-"
All Alex Mars could do was hope that Thomas won't remember that Alex himself had been the one to request for the drive to the headquarters to deal with the matter easily. Luckily, Thomas was not telepathic, nor was the kind which remembered and cared for everything even when they were boiling-angry, so the boy only ranted on Lewis to his wheel till the tires hit the main street headed to the headquarters.
Alex noticed that it was his first time getting there since getting out of the place to get to the Raiders' house. It was the same street and houses, but he noticed that something was a bit strange today. Minors quickly walked away, everyone looking depressed and concerned about something, which was nothing surprising, though, since so many negative things had happened.
Thomas finally slowed down his rant and parked abruptly in front of the Headquarters building-it was the same as Alex Mars remembered it-old, unclean, but trying to reflect the features of the employees, or trying to look Prod-like.
"Lewis said he'll be on the third floor," Thomas grumbled after clearing his throat as the Raiders finally could breathe in cool air, other than the air of the close space they had shared just before on the Chiron. It was a whole new and different sensation, and fortunately, a good and collaborated feeling, as the Raiders as a group, walked to the door of the building, their eyes and fingers twitching, each checking if their environment was safe with their instincts using their innate Prodigy skills individually. They silently filed onto the elevator, as if they had spent a long time before at the building. Miles pressed the button for the third floor and let the thing drive them up to the floor, amazingly supporting the huge weight of all the Raiders, especially with Miles on it. As soon as it reached the floor, Miles stepped off first, letting the floor of the elevator bounce up a bit since his huge weight was gone. It was quite awkward as the girls and Thomas and Alex filed out after him, and Thomas pointed them all to the direction of the room where Lewis had asked him to meet there, which Alex wasn't familiar with(-which was obvious since Alex had only had been to the health room and a single office to be tested if he was a major or minor).
Miles shouldered the metal door open, thankfully not leaving a dent on the thing, leading them into a room that amazed Alex.
It was like those control centers at NASA-with great, thankful A/C, and-the best part-6 huge TV screens showing the live, grainy and gray footage from surveillance cameras, which Alex was surprised to find, was not the view of the Canadian Rebel city, but the view of America, the borders of it. His eyes searched for any guards wandering far away from the walls and door through which he had been expatriated, but there was none, opposite to Lewis' assertion. Relieved and disappointed at the same time, he only turned his eyes down to keep looking around the control room.
Minors were sitting at a group of smaller computer screens at the far side of the room, all looking alert and frustrated by something. The entire room was dim, so the light from the grainy huge screens and stronger lights from the screens directly in front of them spilled onto their faces and eyes, though none of them were blinking and squinting.
They were all surprised by their keen prod senses when Lewis suddenly boomed a "My majors, I was late," from behind them from the door, entering busily while fixing his collar of his suit with a quick yank. Lewis walked right past them, to the series of big screens, gesturing them to follow. "You gotta see this," Th man said, as if he was still surprised and unbelieving. Still awkward, the Raiders followed him, every single person frowning.
It was when Lewis reached out to a stray computer and typed in a few things and meddled around, finally bringing up the video recorded by the camera last night from exactly 12 p.m. to 12: 03 that their frown grew, except in Lyras's face, who stared at the thing with measured scrutiny simply, while Melanie's eyes grew into golf balls while Thomas barred his teeth and Miles snorted.
Alex cringed when he saw grainy, small and white soldiers spill out from the door, still engraved and almost invisible in the wall and border of the country, holding guns and searching everywhere before driving a small Jeep through the narrow door and hopping on, then driving away on the sand, the sound of its tires roaring against the sand audibly to Alex only. He only didn't burst into angry flames when he checked that Fawkes nor Hale nor any other soldier he knew was aboard the thing before it left the range of the screen altogether.
When the thing ended, Lewis instantly turned on the next cut of the video showing the soldiers retuning in the same fashion-on their tiny Jeep, guns in their hands.
"This is the most nearest and only camera at the border, or at least, the only one we found access to. Any ideas on it?" Lewis sighed at the screen. After nothing came from any of the Raiders, Miles' and Thomas' and Melanie's eyes all turned to Lyra and Alex expectantly, staring holes in their faces until Alex cleared his throat-not because he was pressured and awkward, but since he had an idea.
"I know this is insane, but they may be planning to take over the desert, which had been theirs in the past, for any possibility of resources in it," "Right, but why, in particular, right now?" Miles questioned him
But before Alex could refute, Lyra solemnly opened her mouth.
"Maybe they realized from the increase and high number of Prodigies expatriated, with the addition of Alex, and decided to take a stronger measure. The strengthening of security would be the same as strengthening the layer to stop foreign ideas from entering and influencing the people to rise up against the government, while the short venture out to the desert may have been intended for, as Alex said, possible expansion of territory, or checking if Alex or any other extras are somehow alive still. It may be simply for entertainment at how much Alex might have survived, or to reinforce the thought that Alex is dead-and seeing their calm posture as they return to the border, they think he's a dead Prod,"
Alex gaped at her, speechless when she finished, still calm and indifferent. This girl is the first to be smarter than me, he thought, which was also one of his most recent and unprecedented thoughts he had never had before in his life. But once more, the other Raiders were ahead of him in terms of reaction. Lyra whisked her head to him and gave him a questioning look. "What makes you special and different from the other expatriated Prods, Alex?" "Um, was that a question for me?" he groggily asked. Lyra nodded. Jesus, how do I know, Lyra?he thought. But he was competent to make a lengthy answer like Lyra. Ok, not a lengthy one-for now, length didn't matter-it only mattered that he answered quickly at all, to show the other Prods that he wasn't flustered and was still sane.
"Erm, I'll just list all the things before I got here. I stayed a few months at the military, I am Muted-well, was, until this morning-, I have normal parents who aren't one last bit Prodigy-like-" "Woah, Woah, hold on, Al. Months, a plural form, at the military? Normal parents?" Lyra asked, then gritted her teeth when she realized that she had used his nickname on him for the second time.
"Yep," Alex said, confused by where she was going. Lyra sighed, biting her lip as if he was out of her hands or she was nervous. "That's it, Alex. Prods never go to the military, nor survive months there, especially undetected. Maybe the fact that a Prod had been under their eyes so calmly and normally for months got on their nerves and they decided to prevent it, learning how vincible to ideas or standards not of their own their country had been to. That's it, Lew," Alex suddenly was pinched back to reality, noticing once more that Lewis and the other Prods existed there right beside him. Shaking his head to clear the dizziness, he sighed. Lewis sent gleaming eyes at Lyra. "That's why you're valuable and a major, Lyra. Your theory makes sense," Lyra didn't grin nor snort. "Just take it into a possible consideration when analyzing the situation," "Right, right. since the situation seems to have been cleared, I think we have to move on to the next thing-no food. We're gonna starve, majors. What's the solution to that?" Thomas shot Lewis a look that told the man that he wasn't understanding why he was treating them as if he was his their counselors still. All eyes this time turned to Lyra immediately, but she stayed silent, and seemed to be silent for the rest of the meeting, so all eyes now turned to Alex finally-even Lyra's, which only made the weight on his shoulders greater. Finally, searching for a solution, Alex shot a look at Thomas, who exactly knew what the other boy was implying.
Thomas nodded, groaning.
"We have food pills, Canadian-made, Lewis," Alex finally told lewis the truth. They all watched Lewis like kids who had just told their mother that they had broken every single window of the neighbors' house, watching his face change from amusement, bemusement, anger, revenge, then understanding and finally, hope. They all sighed out in relief when Lewis put forth a single flash of a grin. "Well, that's gonna do for a while-" then his face hardened once more. "but pills aren't going to work for long, Alex. We're going to run out of them soon," "I don't have a solution for that yet," Alex Mars finally said honestly. "But I'm going to try to develop plans for it, Lewis," Lewis gave him a grim look. "I hope you stick to your words, Alex. Well, that's all for today. Just call back as soon as possible," The man turned away to talk to a bald man behind a small screen, gesturing and telling him to check out every footage possible no matter how much it would take.
So all the Raiders could do was leave the place, and though Lyra had provided all the explanation for the situation and it didn't matter for now whether she was true or false, they were all depressed as Thomas gestured for them to get in his Chiron.
Well, Lewis, I also hope I stick to my words, Alex grimly groaned inside his head, once more letting himself be squeezed into the crowded car, stuck between Melanie and Lyra.