What is the Greater Good

by A M Lopez

  Aaron took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “We . . . we need to return to Triangulum with the cure as soon as possible.”

  Her wavering voice made the painful situation worse, but the truth in it kept everyone from giving up.

  “The information has finished downloading onto my laptop. I’ll send for Cato’s caretakers.”

  Arthur turned to walk out of the room, face emotionless.

  Aaron turned to him. “Arthur, I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to kick you off Astrolabe. I had no right to say that.”

  The twin nodded, not once breaking his stride. “Forgiven.”

  “Arthur, wait for me.”

  Dimitri had long since opened his eyes and rushed after his twin, who did not react to his calls. The two continued down the hall, making it to Dawn’s entrance in silence.

  “Dawn, extend the escalator please.”

  “Of course, Arthur.”

  Dimitri wanted to say something, but didn’t know what so he stayed silent. Once the door opened and the escalator was out, the two rode it down to the planet’s surface. Arthur pulled out a whistle and blew into it. Anston and Dimitri also had their own whistles, they were used to call the inhabitants of the planet. The twins stood outside of Dawn, listening to the wildlife. A minute later, Anatia flew over the tree tops and landed in front of them. She took one look at their faces and knew what had happened.

  “So, it went wrong.”

  It wasn’t a question but Dimitri still answered. “Yes.”

  Anatia looked up to the sky and took a deep breath. “Is there a body to recover?”

  Arthur spoke up, nodding. “Yes, there is.”

  “You said your ship had an AI.”

  Dimitri responded, wanting to be anywhere but there. “Yes, her name is Dawn.”

  Anatia nodded, determination in her eyes. “Then she will lead me to Cato’s body. You two go and recover, this has taken a toll on the both of you.”

  Before either twin could speak up, Anatia flew into the ship. For the first time in what felt like forever, the two shared a look. They rushed in after the female, only to be stopped by Dawn.

  “I am leading Anatia, please do not worry about it. I agree with her that you two need a break so go, shoo.”

  Dimitri sighed, body not relaxing. There were too many things going on in his head, he felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He realized suddenly that he was shutting down, his emotions beginning to turn themselves off. Despite not wanting to go through this, Dimitri couldn’t bring himself to fight against it. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up, surprised to see his brother still there. In the past few days, if Dimitri slowed him down, Arthur would leave him behind.

  Looking into his twin’s eyes, Dimitri thought he saw the thing he had been desperately trying to bring back, emotion. Arthur dropped his hand and gestured for Dimitri to follow, which he did without hesitation. Dimitri expected his twin to move quickly and was ready to keep up with him. Arthur had taken to speed-walking recently because it was faster than simply walking from place to place, wanting to get back to work as quickly as possible. Before, Arthur usually walked at a slow pace because he could be lazy and was always clumsy. He even went as far as to get Allison to make him a sSegway when Connor wasn’t looking so he wouldn’t get a lecture on exercise.

  Dimitri was taken aback when Arthur set a slow pace down the hallway, looking at his brother. Arthur’s face was still emotionless, but occasionally his lips would twitch. As they passed a potted plant, Dimitri felt hope sparking in him. Arthur walked Dimitri to his room, typing in a code to unlock the door.

  The room had multiple metal tables on its right side, every single one holding something. Some held computers and monitors while others held books and tech. There were tools placed around the room, waiting to be used or put away. In the back of the room was a door, which led to Arthur’s bedroom. To the left, there was an empty space in the room. It was used to project life-size holograms, which allowed Arthur to pull apart the hologram and see the object’s inner workings.

  The two entered the room and seconds after the door shut Arthur had thrown himself at Dimitri, who barely caught him.

  Dimitri was stunned into silence, but quickly returned the sudden hug. Arthur lifted his head to look his brother in the eyes, tears already sliding down his face.

  “I’m so sorry, Dimitri. For convincing Cato to take the cure and shutting down and— ”

  Dimitri squeezed his brother tighter. “We have the cure now, Arthur. It will be okay—”

  Arthur ripped himself from Dimitri’s hold, throwing his hands up. “No! It won’t because I just made one of the kindest people ever known die!”

  Dimitri shook his head. “Cato did—”

  “I know he took it himself but it doesn’t make this any easier! I…”

  Arthur stopped talking and for a second Dimitri feared he was shutting down again.

  “I know I supported the best choice in our situation, logically. Cato even talked to me himself about it but—”

  Dimitri cut his twin off, brows raised. “He did what?”

  Arthur winced. “He came and talked to me yesterday, you and Anston had fallen asleep by then. He said he wanted to talk about the cure so of course I listened. He…”

  Realization hit Dimitri like a truck. “He knew you would be the only one to support giving him the cure.”

  Arthur nodded, looking at the ground. “Yeah, he told me it was okay with him and that since his caretakers knew, it was alright. He talked about how it needed to be done and made me promise to fight for it if you guys didn’t want to go through with it.”

  Dimitri looked at his brother, seeing the pain and shame enveloping him. “Then it really isn’t your fault.”

  Arthur begun trembling, tears falling. “But—”

  “But nothing. Cato knew what he was doing and he would be proud. All we can do now is make the cure better and save those we can.”

  Dimitri walked over to his brother and grabbed his hand, dragging him through the door in the back to his bedroom. A loft bed was pushed to the front right corner of the room, its red sheets unwrinkled from lack of use. Beneath it was a desk and two grey file cabinets, looking slightly like a mini office. A small red journal with a pen rested on the desk. On the back wall of the room was a huge window with a large sill, the perfect reading nook. Bookshelves lined the grey walls, filled to the brim with books from multiple dimensions. There was a fluffy red carpet in the middle of the room, a few books laying on it.

  Dimitri walked over and forced his twin to sit on the window sill, quickly joining him. He wrapped an arm around Arthur’s shoulders, holding his brother close as if he could shield him from the world.

  “How did you get out of your shut down?”

  Arthur trembled, hugging Dimitri. “I went into the shut down because no one could deal with killing Cato, but we needed someone to be the voice of reason. Cato’s death was the first thing that really made a difference, since it was why I went into shut down in the first place. But it wasn’t enough. I felt my emotions as if I was underwater, they were diluted but there.”

  He fell silent, and Dimitri rubbed his back.

  Arthur took a deep breath. “Then I saw you going into shut down too. I couldn’t let that happen. You’ve never went into shut down, and I don’t want you to go through that. It… it is one of the worst things I’ve gone through.”

  Dimitri brought up his other arm and pulled Arthur even closer as his trembling got worse.

  “Well, it worked.”

  Arthur looked up. “What?”

  Dimitri smiled at his brother. “I’m no longer going into shut down.”

  He smiled back, it was small but still there. “Good.”

  Hearts were broken and some hope was lost. There was a light beginning to shine at the end of Dimitri’s tunnel, but what else was there to stop their victory?

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Eva ha
d settled into her bed and was looking up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Cato’s death was still haunting her mind when a soft knock came to her door. Eva slid up on her white comforter and wrapped it around her, wiping away her tears.

  "Come in." She hoarsely said.

  Blonde locks of hair came around the opening door. Allison slowly stepped into the room, the air around her heavy. She wearily came up to Eva's bed and looked at the ground.

  Eva scrunched her brows together. "Allison, come here." She patted the space in front of her. "What's wrong?"

  Allison slowly sat down, grabbing a pillow and hugging it to her chest. Eva looked at her in worry and rubbed Allison's arm.

  "It all comes to me at night." She took a deep breath in. "The loss and heartbreak."

  Eva paused her movement but swiftly continued.

  "You know, I'm tired of this." She put the pillow down and fully faced Eva. "I'm tired of pretending I'm happy all the time, I’m tired of pretending my brother didn’t pass away."

  Eva quickly brought in Allison for a hug.

  Allison shook her head. "You were new, and I wanted to be your rock." Her voice cracked. "I can't anymore, I'm sorry."

  Eva's heart broke in half as she brought her friend in closer. "Allison, it's okay."

  Allison went silent for a while and Eva thought she had broken but, in the silence, she said, "He was on a mission." Allison took a deep breath in. "Gabriel was a stealth agent and the only one available at the time. The Director needed him for a mission and he had to put many agents together. Along with Chloe, the leader, there was everyone that had the same specialties as our team."

  They unwrapped their hug and sat facing each other.

  Allison took a deep sigh. "The mission went wrong, way wrong. Everyone exceptpect, Chloe died, she barely escaped the circumstances.”

  Allison gave a small smile. "Gabriel was the best brother I could've asked for. When we were little, our parents sold us to some strange family up in North Brazil. The trip from Rio to Salvador was hard, and we had to walk all the way. The family rarely gave us food and water to drink, and let us sleep on the cold hard ground."

  Eva looked down as Allison laid on her bed. "Once we got to Salvador, they had us work the farms there. One day, a couple years later when I started to grow into my lady body, the sons of the family started to get a bit..." She hesitated. "Frisky. They were close to doing whatever they were going to do when Gabriel heard my shouts and came to my rescue. He killed the boys and we ran. That's when Aaron found us and offered us a spot at Triangulum."

  Allison looked at Eva. "Sometimes the nightmare can be too much for me, but we'll get through it together." She shakily laughed. "I needed to share this with you."

  Eva gave a small smile. "I understand. Just know that I'm here whenever you need me, okay?"

  Allison nodded and looked down at her watch, gasping. "Oh shoot! We're going to land in Triangulum soon!" She grinned wickedly. "Anston is probably going to take the test."

  Eva grinned back. "This is going to be good."

  ~

  "So, he's dead now." The Director leaned back and rested his hands on the back of his head.

  "Yes." Aaron stood in the front of the desk with the rest of the team behind her.

  "And you brought in a new addition." The tone of his voice stood firm and strong.

  Aaron gripped Anston's arm from behind her and dragged him forward, against his silent protests.

  "Anston Hale. Your father served well."

  Anston's body seemed to tense up and he sternly nodded.

  The Director tilted his head. "Tell me, son, how is he?"

  Anston crossed his arms and looked anywhere but his face. "My father is fine."

  "My guess is he doesn't know you're here?"

  He nodded.

  "Aaron." The Director looked to her. "Set him up for the test, and send the cures in for multiplication. You should continue your actual mission."

  Aaron nodded and motioned for everyone to move out. The office, as usual, was busy. Which didn't stop Anston from exploding.

  "Okay, what the freak?" He started to pace back and forth gripping his hair firmly. "He accepted me without a trace of what you guys told me and now I have to take this stupid test!"

  Allison looked at the twins, smirking silently. "Is this about the needle or are you ultimately scared of taking the test?"

  Anston snapped his head towards her and puffed out his chest. "Me? Afraid of a needle? Of course not!"

  Everyone slowly looked at Eva, who enjoyed the sight of the tips of her shoes. Once Eva felt the gaze of everyone, she slowly stepped behind Connor, who chuckled.

  "Eva, you can take him to Max." Aaron suggested, hurriedly walking away with the rest of the team, not allowing Eva to argue.

  Connor pulled her in for a small hug, looking down at her with a glint in his eye. "You can do this." He whispered.

  She shook her head as he pulled away. "Don't leave me alone."

  Connor mouthed, "Sorry."

  Eva made a face at him, took a deep breath in, and spun around with a fake smile on her face.

  "Should we get going?"

  Anston slowly nodded and went to follow Eva. The silence drifted between them as they walked towards the room where Max was.

  Eva glanced at Anston, who was staring directly ahead. "So, how are you adjusting?"

  He faltered in his steps but answered swiftly. "I would be worse if my father hadn't gone on a ranting spree."

  She slowly nodded and took a deep breath in. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I was just overwhelmed with the information."

  Anston looked at her in shock. "It's...I...Thank you?"

  Eva nodded.

  He laughed softly. "It probably didn't help that I was a jerk two years ago."

  She quickly nodded.

  At that point, they reached the door. Eva lightly knocked, hearing Max's voice come out.

  "Come in!"

  Eva opened the door, and was confronted by the room that started everything. The white room was slightly updated from the last time she came in here. Max was seated in front of his desk, typing furiously on the holographic pad. He turned around, a smile stretching across his whole face.

  "Eva! It's so nice to see you!" He stood, walking over to engulf her in a hug.

  She let out a small oof, but smiled and hugged him back. "It's nice to see you too, Max."

  He let go and gave her a goofy smile. "So, the grasshopper becomes the teacher, who is this?" Max crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Anston.

  Eva glanced over to him, who was looking at the floor and elbowed him. "Max, meet Anston."

  Max analyzed Anston, causing him to shift uncomfortably. He nodded, pleased with what he saw.

  He held out his hand. “Welcome, Anston.”

  Anston shook his hand firmly, still unnerved by the whole situation. “Thanks, Max.”

  Max waved off the thanks, going back to his desk. “No problem. Oh, and in advance, thanks for saving the dimensions.”

  Anston raised a brow, glancing at Eva who stayed completely silent. “Uh, no problem? Happy to help?”

  Max laughed typing rapidly on the holographic pad once more. “No problem? There are so many problems that come with saving the dimensions, one’s people don’t always want to face.”

  Anston looked away, a sad look on his face. “Yeah, I figured that out recently.”

  Eva felt a twinge in her chest. For as much as she disliked Anston, he really did care about Cato. He had gotten closer to the mutant than anyone else on the team.

  She suddenly wondered, did Anston go through Cato’s death alone? Allison was with Eva and the twins were probably together. Aaron and Connor didn’t like being vulnerable to others, so they would’ve avoided everyone.

  Max tilted his head, still working on setting up the system. “What do you mean?”

  Anston took a deep breath, a fake smile sliding on his face. “Just something I dealt with. You
don’t have to worry about it.”

  Eva hesitantly opened her mouth to speak but closed it quickly, unsure what to say. She decided that she would talk to him about it later, or have someone do it for her.

  "Alright. Hop up on the chair and we'll get started."

  Eva waved Anston forward and he slowly walked towards the chair, climbing and laying down on top.

  Eva sat down on a rolling chair as Max began to explain the procedure of the test. She rolled over to the tabletop where the screen was loading. Max took the machine used to apply the needle and slowly rolled over to Anston. Anston widened his eyes and looked desperately to Eva for help. Eva shrugged and winked at him. While Anston laid deathly still, Max injected Anston and backed off.

  "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Anston said, crossing his arms.

  Eva laughed, rolling over to him. "I thought the same thing when I did the test, Ranison is so behind."

  Anston looked at the portal and slowly got up. "Do I just walk in?"

  To Eva, nothing was happening, but she nodded and waved him forward. Hesitantly, he walked towards the portal and disappeared inside.

  "Okay, spill. What happened?" Max rolled towards her and propped an arm on the chair.

  Eva let out a laugh and proceeded to explain all the events that led to that day. Various times while she was telling the story, Max interrupted her various times to display his shock.

  At the end, Max had a wide- open jaw and widened eyes. "What..… how..…" He leaned back and scrunched his face. "Why?"

  Eva nodded knowingly. "I know. I don't quite understand it either."

  At that time, a noise came from behind her and she swiftly turned around. Anston was breathing heavily, eyes closed and hand on knees. She quickly stood up and helped him to the chair, grunting at his heaviness. Anston flopped onto the chair, heaving an arm over his face.

  "You okay?" She looked down at his tired face.

  Anston groaned. "Why is it so intense?"

  Max announced from the other side, "So we can get accurate results, don't worry, we weren't watching." He had a teasing tone laced through his voice.