Chapter Text
From the inside of the building, from the safety of the non-toxic atmosphere provided artificially by the place, The Apprentice looked through the window, his eyes focusing on the path that led to the Mars Colony. A place that, whether he liked it or not, had been his home for the past 16 years. And yet, he just wasn't able to grow up to like it, and he really couldn’t understand why. Was it the fact that it was a colony where the humans did not come from? Or perhaps was its weird, almost authoritarian society that made him feel like a misfit? Or the lack of nature and emotion? He was unsure, but either way he was certain of one thing:
It didn’t feel natural.
No matter how hard he tried, this place just didn’t feel natural. But even so, he was already accustomed to deal with it.
Still, this place felt like a nice change of pace. Not only its shape was quite unique, but it also provided things that the colony could never: they were either impossible to be provided or they were straight up forbidden.
“Already wishing to go home, Apprentice? I thought you’d be more eager to stay here”
A voice took the ginger haired boy out of his overthinking spiral. Had he been looking through the window for that long?
“M-my apologies, Colonist. I just started looking for a moment and then I got lost in my thoughts. I did not mean to seem uninterested, at all, I swear.” He replied, with a hint of anxiety dropping in his voice. To his surprise, he got a chuckle as a response.
“Don’t sweat it, kid, I’m just messing with you”
Messing… ah, he means joking. He’s joking. Right, right.
The Apprentice nods slowly in response, and tries to smile a bit, although its forced and it shows. He feels ashamed over the fact that this “joke” does not really inspire any joy on him, but he prefers not to voice it. Instead, he moves to stare at the Colonist and crosses his arms.
“You said no one comes here anymore, do they?”
“That’s right. This place has been abandoned for years.”
“Why? It’s… nice. It’s not like the colony, you have plants, a suitable atmosphere for breathing without artificial air supply tanks, and the ambience is just… I don’t know how to describe it other than it inspires feelings, so many of them.”
“That’s the exact idea of this place. It’s not supposed to be just the container of a cold machine that creates a simulation that takes you back in time, no. Granted, that is its main objective, but not all of what this place is meant for, not anymore." The Colonist smiles, nostalgia shines in his old, tired eyes. "I decided to turn it into a memorial of what earth used to be. And for you, now its like a museum of sorts, isn’t it?”
“It… it is. I had not thought about it, but you’re right.” the Colonist smiles satisfied, nodding.
“Alas, nobody comes here anymore. It’s only I, in this desolate home of mine. And well, now you're part of this place too." the Colonist turns around and walks towards one of the plants in the place, kneeling down and staring quietly at the flowers, humming.
He's staring at the White Lilies, a symbol of rebirth. The Apprentice assumes they're meant to represent the rebirth of the human civilization in a new planet, despite it becoming kind of messed up in the end. The flowers are pretty, an element that he would never see in the colony.
They were basically impossible to get, and even if it was possible, they were forbidden. Any tiny element that could inspire the smallest hint of emotion in a person was prohibited. It made no sense to the young boy, but he didn't really have a say on it, sadly.
The Colonist's voices startles him, removing him from his thought bubble again. "Apprentice, I've seen in you the will to learn, a strong will I have not seen in anyone in quite a long time. You're willing to learn about Earth's past, about its history, you keep your emotions close to your heart and are willing to feel everything, and who am I to take all of this from you? I told you when we met, but I'll say this again: make yourself at home here in my place. Knock yourself out with the vastness of long forgotten human knowledge. I'll be your guide through it. And perhaps one day, you'll be using the Dream Sequencer too, going back in time and exploring the past in the sweet dream that the simulation provides."
There is a certain emotion in the Colonist's voice that the Apprentice just cannot identify quite clearly, but the boy is able to identify eagerness from the man. Eagerness to pass on and mantain Earth's legacy, even if this young, emotional misfit is the only one who will listen.
The Colonist has walked back towards where the boy is, and the Apprentice bows at him, as a sign of gratitude.
"T-thank you, Mr. Colonist. That means a lot to me"
"Mr. L" The Colonist replies, a smile on his face.
"Huh?"
"Mr. L, call me Mr. L, kiddo"
"Understood. Thank you, Mr. L"
"It's no problem, Phillip. I'm glad to pass the torch to someone as enthusiastic as you, honestly." Phillip, apprentice of the colonist, nods, this time a genuine smile forms in his face.
In this messed up life, he's finally found a place of escapism, a place where he can feel at home. A place where no Logiclean to drain his emotions will chase him. A place where he can allow himself to keep his emotions, feel everything and drown in the memento of how life on Earth used to be.
The memento of the planet that he came from, yet cannot remember. After all, he was just a kid when his family had no other choice but to leave, as Earth was becoming uninhabitable, suitable for humanity no more.
He wonders how life could have been if he and his family had the chance to live on Earth, a normal life, in a world that was not dying. He wonders...
An alarm on his smart watch brings his mind back to reality one more time. Why does he have to keep drifting off into his thoughts...?
He looks at the time. 8:30 pm, time to go back home. He usually goes for walks with his portatile air supply tank, but the air supply has a limit, and if he doesn't come back at the time that the air supply tank was supposed to reach its limit, it will look incredibly suspicious. He sighs, saddened.
He doesn't want to leave, but he has to. It's part of surviving in the Mars Colony: he just has to obey. No questions asked.
Mr. L catches on the mood and places a hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "I take that you must leave now?"
"Sadly, yes. It will look suspicious if I don't make back my way now, the air supply tank should have reached its max capacity by now. Plus, mother doesn't know I'm here and I don't want her to find out."
"Right, I understand. You shall leave, then. But remember that you can come back any time, apprentice" Mr. L is standing in front of the boy now, and he offers a polite handshake, which his apprentice accepts.
"I know. Thank you so much, Mr. L. I'll keep coming back, I promise" Phillip breaks the handshake and he moves to grab his air supply tank and mask, setting them to get ready to leave. As he moves towards the door,
"I hope so. Take care out there, and keep your emotions close to your heart, where no one can see them but you're able to feel them at their finest."
"I will. I will." The Apprentice has opened the first gate to exit the place, the one that goes through the "transition chamber" so one gets accustomed to non-breathable atmosphere. Before he leaves, Phillip looks back to the Colonist, and proceeds to do quite the unique motion: he rests the tips of his middle and index fingers on his forehead, and then withdraws them in a kind of bow, a farewell gesture between him and the colonist, fingers pointing towards his mentor and lowering until his hand points to the ground.
"Dream on, Mr. L"
Mr. L returns the gesture to him, nodding.
"Dream on, Phillip."
And with that said and done, Phillip the Apprentice finally leaves the Dream Sequencer's Earth Memorial, on his way back to the Mars Colony.