Avatar Auction (Avatar series #1)

  “Of course, I was waiting for you here.”

  “We, too, were waiting for you, General Cine Moon.”

  I turn back to see two Cosmos. “Cine and Moon, come here. Give me a hug.”

  Then, I have handshakes and hugs with other Cosmos.

  “It’s really an honor to meet you, General. I’m Horolo, father of Cine and Moon and husband of Safire. I was caught in the night when Generals invaded my bar. The night for Morning Call meeting. You couldn’t come.”

  “Sorry, I wanted to see the fresco myself,” I say, shaking his hand. “Who’s Safire?”

  “I’m here,” she says near the doors. “Sorry, we have to go back to work. I’m working as a Cook Cosmo here.”

  “I’m a Bartender Cosmo, of course. I’ll see you later, General,” Horolo says and leaves with her.

  “Nixie is working as well, sir,” says Cooper.

  “Nixie, she’s here too?”

  “Yes, General, we are together every night in a suite. It’s like having a honeymoon.”

  “Honeymoon outside STT… it can’t be better. I’m really happy for you, Cooper.”

  “Thank you, General.”

  “What’s your job here?” I ask, looking at his uniform. It looks different from others.

  “Sir Gascon and I are working as police here, sir.”

  “Police?”

  “Yes, Avatar Auction needs the police to ensure safety of guests. We settle conflicts between them. Many BTTs from STT trail NTTs’ coattails. Do you know who the worst trouble maker is?” He rolls his eyes. “I’m sick of this man, sir. He’s Bacchus. Yes, the BTT General Bacchus. The drunken man!”

  My face darkens. “Is it okay? What if he notices you?”

  “They already noticed, General Moon. But they can’t touch us until the trial ends at least. Your father, oh, I told it, I mean…”

  “Justice Judge Noir,” I say.

  His eyes broaden. “You know sir? I mean, you recalled him?”

  “Yes, how can I forget my handsome father?”

  “Definitely, he even looks younger than you.”

  I turn back at her voice. “Chickie.”

  “People will still believe if you say he’s your son.”

  I chuckle. “Still cruel… I noticed it when you appeared in my dream that you look grown.”

  “Grown? Was I a kid in your eyes?”

  I take a look at her again. She is Chickie I know, for sure. But she doesn’t look like sixteen anymore. She became ten years older at least. She’s taller and curvier. It is not mere effects of red lips and heels.

  “That was me at sixteen. I made the avatar using my own genetic information. Sometimes you want to go back to your sweet sixteen you know?”

  “So your body now is Chickie at twenty-six?” I ask her.

  “It’s Chickie at thirty. I have Chickie at fifty, seventy and hundreds as well in my wardrobe.”

  “You were really a gene doctor, not a mere toy maker.”

  “I’m an official avatar maker,” she says, turning back and flying her long cape with two tails. “Follow me, Cine Moon! I’ll take you to Noir’s courtroom. You will be able to meet them again if you manage to come back. Hope you make your decision,” she says and swipes an invitation card on a crack in the door. That must be a key to his domain. The doors open flung from inside and we step inside the Avatar Triathlon arena that turned into a grand courtroom.

  CHAPTER 46

  “Chickie, Chickie!” I whisper in darkness. She’s gone after delivering me to the courtroom. What’s the decision I have to make? How can she leave me here, alone? My heart has shrunk upon seeing the numerous number of BTT officials sitting in front of me. But it is fairly dark and I’m standing in the darkest spot, the end of the courtroom. Moreover, they are all giving their full attention to Zane, a lawyer, and my father on the stage. My Zeus, did I just have a thought of my father? I grip my chest and look around to see if anyone heard my mind. No one even noticed Cine Moon’s in their back. But I feel choky with pressure. What if I ruin everything in the end, what if I can’t make the decision, and what if I will be locked in the STT tower prison with Zane and Zeus?

  “How’s it going?” says a voice on my left. Face of Zeus is exposed as a blue light passes across his eyes. They flash vivid-colored lights on us as if it is a concert hall. Before I open my mouth to say something, another voice answers him. “Trial began late because of the President. I can’t understand BTTs getting late. Is there traffic in teleportation in STT?”

  I turn to my right and see the owner of the voice. He’s a young man in a long metallic jacket that’s shining in the dark and reaching down to his knees, with long boots that shimmer as well. Who’s this twinkling guy? He doesn’t look like a BTT. They are taller than me whether women or men.

  “He’s Kiki. A BTT but, not from STT,” says Zeus, reading my mind.

  I am staggered by both his softened tone and the words. A BTT who does not live in the Society of Time Travelers?

  “STT’s citizens are only a fraction of our population,” Kiki tells me, “You must already know that those guys are all cowards and introverts. They just can’t live with other people. That’s why they built STT to live together with the same types.”

  “I see,” I say after a pause. I didn’t know that I was ruled by cowards and introverts. How much of a coward and introvert am I, then?

  “Oh, someone takes down the lawyer for me. He keeps asking the same questions. What is he scribbling in his notes anyway?” complains Kiki, looking at the stage. So, I look at the stage again. The first person I see is the Justice Judge Noir who is sending Zane and Lawyer Sawyer a serious look. He looks quite bored. Careful Sawyer, we don’t know when this courtroom will change into the arena where you will be performing for him. Better hurry up and amuse him.

  “How tall is he?” asks Kiki.

  “Three meters and a half,” I answer. He had surgery to remove his beauty gene gifted by his parents and asked the doctor to make his face threatening. So, his face is covered with warts and horns. He enjoys the convicts who look up to him, shaking with fear. He’ll be happy if you call him a monster.

  “I see,” says Kiki. “That’s why he’s shaking because Zane Quicker doesn’t look terrified at all.”

  Truly, Zane Quicker looks perfectly calm with his arms and legs cuffed with spiky strips on a large dart board.

  “Sinner, you bought the sinners and disguised them as your employees. Why?” says Lawyer Sawyer.

  “Isn’t it my right to use them as I want? You sold them to me,” says Zane.

  “But you lied that you will use them for an experiment,” says Sawyer.

  “I did as I said. We had an experiment about Cosmo. The project’s title is ‘How many Cosmos can we reproduce?’” Zane says brightly.

  “I didn’t ask that,” Sawyer says, annoyed. “Next, what was your real purpose of the Cosmos?”

  “To serve our guests.”

  “Why did you have to use the sinners for that?”

  “Because they are smart.”

  “Smart?”

  “Yes. They are smart NTTs. The cockroaches,” he says, looking down at the first row. “Isn’t it why you made them sinners, President and MTT Minister?”

  “You have no right to question them! You are being questioned!” yells Sawyer.

  “I’m just glad to see them personally. I feel proud of myself that every high official of STT came here to see my trial enthusiastically. Let me see. I see President, Vice President, Foreign Secretary, Culture Secretary, Work Secretary, and the MTT Minister. Look at them! They are looking at me, too!” Zane giggles. I swallow. Oh, my Zeus, go and stop your father! But he only watches him with his eyes as serene as a stilled lake. He does not even scold me that I thought of their relationship when mind readers are filled in front of us. Strange.

  Sawyer jumps up on the podium with a bang and grabs at Zane’s throat. My dad is smiling at them without even thinking of lifting his g
avel. “You better take it seriously. Don’t you know your life depends on this trial, do you, Zane Quicker?”

  Zane’s lips curl meanly at his words. “Do you know your life is also depending on this trial, Sawyer?” Then he turns his head to us, the audience. “And my lovely audience! No, should I call you the convicts?”

  Sawyer lifts him and the dart board up three and a half high. Their noses are almost contacted. “Have you gone mad, Quicker?”

  “Mad? I’m perfectly rational. But I admit I’m a little too excited. Noir, I believe we shouldn’t let them wait any longer.”

  My dad gestures to go on, wearing a wicked smile as always. Zane nods and screams at the ceiling. “STT, ready for the real justice? I introduce you to my real audience!”

  CHAPTER 47

  My jaw drops down as the sky begins opening up. I even step forward to see it well.

  “Finally the real trial begins,” says Kiki behind me.

  Just like curtains, the night sky falls down gently from the top to the bottom to reveal another black sky that is brightened with a red moon. My dad’s courtroom was only a stage for a larger courtroom with millions of witnesses looking down at us.

  “Let me begin the trial of STT’s case,” a voice rings the whole place. We all look up and see five chairs floating above us. Kiki! He’s sitting on the forth one. The woman in the middle goes on, “I’m Judge Won of All Time Human Rights.” I swallow, recalling the conversation between Zeus and my father. ATHR meant this. She is the Judge Won.

  “Can’t move… I can’t move!” someone shouts. And soon, the man’s identified as his seat is rooted up and floats up to the sky until he faces the Judge. “MTT General Ares, formally Loring, direct violation and insults to NTT soldiers witnessed by a General. Have any excuse?” says Judge Won.

  “It’s because of my gene. I inserted a fighter’s gene after having my avatar!”

  “Confiscation of the gene, imprisonment and labor service required.” As the Judge announces, Kiki on her left sways his hand lightly. Ares disappears at once and the seat he was sitting on falls down. Just before it hits, the seated BTTs’ heads it explodes in midair creating a loud bang. I step backwards, looking at it.

  “Next volunteer?” says a girl sitting near to Kiki holding her finger up, looking down at the terrified BTTs.

  CHAPTER 48

  The girl shines her large yellow eyes with thin pupils like a cat, waiting for a volunteer, but, no one raises his hand. “Come on. Don’t act like children being scolded by their parents. You are adults who should be responsible for your wrong deed.”

  “Lawyer! Give me a lawyer!” exclaims a familiar voice. Her seat also glides up to face the Judge. “You know our trial doesn’t require you to defend yourself. We’ve already analyzed your feelings and emotions, watching the scene of the crime. You clearly intended when you insulted the victims. All the MTT Generals will be charged with similar crimes,” says a woman sitting on the first floating chair.

  “And just how did you watch it? MTT is perfectly closed!” shouts Venus.

  “Through an avatar’s eyes,” says a man on the second chair, right side of Judge Won.

  “Avatar?”

  “You know the guy,” he says.

  “He lived in STT since he was ten and was raised by a BTT father. He erased him before joining MTT when he was fifteen and became a hero of smart NTTs. He witnessed all the things about NTTs’ district and MTT that controlled the district for ten years, experiencing all the violations and insults himself,” says Judge Won before looking down at me. As Kiki lifts his hand my body floats up. I see millions of eyes follow me.

  “Cine Moon,” says Venus with a trembling voice.

  “Cine Moon. We will punish every one of them properly for your sacrifice. We thank you.”

  The Judge begins clapping for me and I hear a thunder of applause from millions in the audience who might have come here to witness a STT case. I am vacuous, receiving all the ovations. Under my feet, the BTTs are looking up at me with angry, shocked or regretful eyes. What a look! I hope I have a camera for the first time.

  “That’s my son!”

  I look down at the voice of my father who’s clapping, with a large smile. I see Zane as well, shouting something to cheer me, still carrying the dart board on his back. The applause lasts for a long time until another man rises up next to me.

  “And Zeus, who entered STT and worked in MTT to witness BTT citizens,” says Judge Won and another round of applause begins. I look at him on my left, thunderstruck. What does it mean? Does it mean he was used as a camera as well? Does it mean he’s an avatar of Zane as well? But why does he look so calm? Of course, he must know it. It was only me who didn’t know all the plots.

  “Can we leave here, Judge?” asks Zeus when the clapping slowly fades down.

  “As you please,” Judge Won says and turns to Kiki. He nods. Zeus bows gently and grabs my arm. His hand feels warm.

  CHAPTER 49

  I open my eyes at a sound that gently vibrates in my ears. Thunk, whisp, thump, whisp, thunk, whisp, thump… I see Zane weaving a giant loom made of glass or crystal, sitting in a chair next to Zeus. It is as high as Lawyer Sawyer. He operates the loom skillfully though I have no idea what he’s weaving. There’s nothing where the thread should be.

  “We time traveled to ten years past. It’s where we were reborn,” says Zeus on my left.

  “Reborn? Reborn as avatars?”

  “No. We are not avatars,” he says.

  “Stop fooling me. I heard the Judge say that she saw everything through an avatar’s eyes.”

  “She didn’t tell the truth in order to protect his secret.”

  “Zane Quicker’s secret?”

  He nods. “His real name is Zane Weaver. He weaves souls.”

  “Weave souls?”

  Zeus nods and points to them with his eyes. Next to Zane’s loom is a stony table where two boys stretch out like offerings.

  “That’s us?” I ask.

  “Yes, we were around ten,” says Zeus.

  “You were nine and Cine was ten,” Chickie says, appearing in midair and lands on the floor. She’s holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses. Anything to celebrate?

  “It’s up to your answer if we can drink it or not.”

  “Zane Weaver,” I stand up reactively at his voice. It’s him. This man sent me to STT. If it were not him, I had no reason to suffer there, fearing when they will take me to sell me out in a slave market. I worked without vacation not to be dragged out as the next item. I had to struggle to secure safe foods every day. Inside MTT, I had to bear daily insults and abuses.

  He pauses before saying “Is that your answer?”

  I narrow my eyes. “What answer?”

  “Zeus, you didn’t tell him yet?” says Zane.

  I turn back to Zeus who’s sitting calmly on the chair, crossing his legs. Is it only me who’s this excited? Did Zane insert an obedience gene into his brain?

  “You tell him,” says Zeus. “I don’t want to be a subject of blame.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re the victim as well! Don’t you get it? He put you in danger. It only went well by luck. If they found out your relationship to Zane Weaver, you must be locked in the prison too!” I shout to him.

  “Locked? Will I be locked in a prison?” says Zane.

  “Yes, in a freezing prison without eatable food,” I say to threaten him. But he rather looks pleased. “Did you hear that, Chickie? I’ll be locked in a prison!”

  What’s wrong with him? Why is he so happy? His laugh oddly provokes me.

  “Zane, please go to the question straight, before he explodes,” says Zeus. He sounds quite edgy, for the first time.

  “What question? That’s not what I am concerned with. I spent ten years in STT!”

  Zane’s smile fades away. “Yes, that’s what the question is about, Moon. If you had a hard time,” he swallows and goes on, “we can stop here. I won’t weave y
our souls or send you to STT. That’s why I asked Zeus to time travel back with you, to here, when ATHR trial begins. So, if you don’t like the conclusion, you can start it all again as you want. Tell me the best life you can think of.”

  “We can give you a different ten years,” says Chickie. “If you think the ten years was a waste, tell us now.”

  “What are you talking about? You can’t change what I already went through for the years!”

  The place falls into silence.

  “Twenty millions,” says Zeus, piercing the tensed air, “That’s the number of people who lived in the district. Half of them were sold outside as slaves, prostitutes, and laborers. Zane was able to save two millions over the years. ATHR will require BTTs to save the eight millions themselves. And you, by offering the solid evidence of NTTs’ district’s existence, are going to save ten million at once.”

  “Maybe no one in history could save ten million people in ten years,” says Zane, walking to me, “But it’s your right to get mad, to get angry and to punish me.” He kneels in front of me. “I apologize. I apologize for the ten years you’ve lost.”

  I look down at him. He’s closing his eyes, waiting for my decision. Ten years in STT. Do I consider it as a waste? Do I regret the time in the place? Was it that hard?

  No… I lived in the protection of my father, even after I left home without his consent. I can’t deny it. I wondered who changed the rule that an NTT employee should eat in the MTT canteen. It might be my dad. Thanks to him, I could cook and eat unaffected crops. He might always be watching me if anybody tries to hurt me. I haven’t been abused, seriously, working with violent BTT Generals. And there was Cooper, who gave me the strength to trust myself. If he did not appear in my life, I would not learn responsibility to protect someone very precious to me. Gascon, who gave me the hope for surviving in STT until that age. I began thinking of my future after meeting him. Safire. Who knew the power of change and encouraged me to think of the changes I could make. Hera, and her family. They changed the selfish me. If she didn’t grip my sleeve in the Morning Market, I might lose the chance to change the egotistic me.

  “Wrong,” I say. Zane looks up. “I don’t think I’ve lost the ten years. If I had not been there, I would not have been able to meet them or make changes in me.” I raise him up and cuddle him. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me a chance to become a different person. Chickie, I thank you, too.”