Lucas was clearly dizzy after that confusion crisis—or whatever it’s called—so his friends, who had been watching him intensely for a while, grew concerned.

“Lucas, are you okay?” Pascal brought him back to reality with a compassionate tone.

“Huh? No, no, I’m fine,” Lucas replied, clearly disoriented and with a nervous laugh. “I just had a déjà vu.”

“You’ve been telling me you get déjà vus ever since I met you,” Artemisa said, laughing.

“Hey!” Lucas looked away in search of the tutor, not wanting to be scolded again for being too loud. “It’s not that serious,” he mumbled.

“They say 1 in 3 people experience déjà vus. It’s actually very common,” Luna jumped in, defending Lucas as she always did.

“Hear that?” Lucas said, pointing at Luna. “It’s common!” He kept glancing around to make sure the tutor wasn’t watching, trying to control his tone.

“But Lucas lives in déjà vu,” Pascal argued. “Sometimes he doesn’t even know if he’s living or just stuck in one.”

Lucas had never really opened up about his confusion episodes—mostly because he knew any doctor would just assume he was careless or dumb. He didn’t know how to avoid them, but he did know how to get out of them.

“I’m not that dumb, Pascal,” Lucas shot back.

“Stop arguing, you’re drawing too much attention,” Luna said, clearly worried.

Lucas leaned back in his seat, stared at the ceiling, and yawned in boredom, shaking his leg restlessly since he couldn’t move or speak freely. He was still trying to figure out where he had seen that beautiful man who had left him swallowing hard. Before looking back at the holographic screen, he pulled out a piece of gum and offered it to the others. He popped the minty candy into his mouth and chewed it just to move some part of his body and distract himself.

“The Anomalous Case Enforcemente formerly known as GAIA is in charge of cases involving mutants, the surface, or individuals with active cores who can’t be managed through regular channels.”

The screen displayed several photographs of the surface. The slide title read: “View of the safety zone from the north access point.”

They showed a hostile, arid environment dominated by orange and gray hues. Vegetation was non-existent—or, where it appeared, it was dry and lifeless, scattered randomly, as if clinging to the last breath of a dying ecosystem.The red sun beat down mercilessly, piercing through dense layers of atmospheric gas, giving the sky a dull, grayish tone. The cracked orange earth looked brittle and dry, in some places sunken with what appeared to be craters or steep slopes—raising doubts about whether it was even safe to step there without falling into an abyss. The fissures were so severe it looked as if only a thin layer of land separated the sky from the void below.

The woman in black stepped up to the microphone to speak:

"These images correspond to the northern access point to the underground world. It’s located nearly above us—specifically over Puerto Coronel Soto, which is the place where we, the ‘Anomalous Cases Enforcement,’ or ‘ACE,’ previously known as ‘GAIA,’ usually begin our deployments.”

The room filled with hushed, suspicious whispers among the attendees. It was common knowledge that the Military Police and the Anomalous Cases Enforcement were the most parasitic and ineffective forces in society. But unlike the Military Police—who had genuinely earned the public’s contempt—the ACE was disliked due to repeated scandals and a complete lack of results over 15 years of service, along with massive financial waste.

“Did they really change their name?” Luna asked, confused.

“It’s a rebranding attempt after the corruption scandals under the previous directors,” Pascal explained. “Looks like the current director wants to do things right from the start and is reforming a lot.”

“And that’s good. It’s always possible to change course,” Artemisa justified. “Especially when there’s an honest effort to fix things.”

Lucas found Artemisa’s conviction about the Anomalous Case Enforcement interesting. As far as he knew, she’d never shown a particular preference for them before.

“Misa, do you believe in them?” Lucas asked with genuine curiosity.

Artemisa looked slightly offended now:

“Of course I do. If I didn’t, then how could I give them the chance to prove me wrong? It’s not like they’ve done everything wrong. It’s the State putting obstacles in their way,” she explained sharply.

Artemisa clearly looked pissed after that criticism. And it almost felt like she was part of the organization herself, judging by how precisely she identified the problem.Meanwhile, the woman that is apparently the Deputy Director took control of the situation amidst the criticism. She didn’t look surprised or concerned about the backlash.

The ACE, despite having been founded before the police to repel the Andromedan threat, had recently fallen to the background, carrying out lower-tier operations. This had sparked one of the biggest debates online and in journalism: Is the ACE still necessary, or should it be merged with the police?

“I, Vikta Goryashko, as Deputy Director of the ACE, am fully aware of the public’s opinion about our organization and the scrutiny we face. Citizens and even you have questioned whether our faction is truly necessary, whether our investigations yield results or will just be another failure and waste of state resources. That’s why, for the past 13 months, we’ve been working on internal reform to rebuild society’s trust and make our ranks as respectable as the Intergalactic Force or the Civil Guard,” she continued with a serious expression.

The criticism in the auditorium escalated after Goryashko intentionally excluded the Military Police from the list of “respectable ranks.” The Vice-Captain of the Military Police was left stunned by that phrase so direct and passive-aggressive at the same time.

Given the context and rumors that the students could overhear from their seats, it began to seem like Deputy Director Goryashko herself had requested that the Vice-Captain increase the priority of the search for young Aria Schmidt given her value as a weapon and her dignity as a member of the security forces but this request had been rejected just minutes before she stepped onto the stage.

Suddenly, cameras that even the graduates hadn’t noticed began flashing more rapidly and intensely.

Once again, journalists had snuck into the auditorium, raising both professional cameras and cellphones. Police officers began restraining reporters desperate for a scoop, shouting questions at random and forcing their way toward the stage. In doing so, they pushed through the rows where the graduates were seated, causing chaos. More than one person was elbowed, kicked, or even had a reporter fall on top of them.

And while others were signaling for police and guards to escort the reporters out, Vikta Goryashko seemed to be embracing the chaos as if this was exactly what she had been waiting for:

“Our operational failures have not been due to a lack of funding, nor a lack of effort, and certainly not a lack of commitment from our members. While my predecessors were strong advocates of withholding classified information from the public eye, I am a firm believer in transparency, and in the citizens’ ability to understand what we are truly facing: a massive and complex challenge, with threats that mutate and shift constantly in an environment we still do not fully understand.”

The woman continued walking across the stage as if she were deliberately feeding the reporters:

“That is why I am proud to present a new vision for the Anomalous Cases Enforcement: one focused on investigating cases beyond the capacity of regular law enforcement and developing new technologies. A vision where we upgrade, adapt, and improve our agents and researchers who are deeply committed to building a better future for the next generations and demonstrating the possibility of migrating to the surface and leaving behind the underground world, to restore the life we once had before the Andromeda impact.”

Chaos erupted in the room at the mere mention of leaving the underground, where humanity had been trapped for over 40 years. Directors, newly graduated soldiers, reporters, and guards looked at each other breathless, overwhelmed by the weight and power of her words.

The group of friends couldn’t open their eyes any wider in shock:

“Go to the surface?” Luna was stunned. “That’s impossible!”

“My parents literally grew up here,” Pascal added. “We can’t go back to the surface. It’s toxic and barely livable there! and now we’re supposed to migrate up there?”

“Is that even possible after all this time?” Lucas was speechless at first, then closed his mouth and stared at his hands.

He vividly remembered the stories his sister used to read to him because she learned to read before he did. She would read their grandmother’s old world atlas books, showing deserts, lakes, wetlands, mountains, Antarctica, fields, and cities as the faded photographs from before the impact, one of the last remnants of the world that once was.

His grandmother, who had once been a young Chilean before “Earthling” became the only nationality after countries ceased to exist, had seen the downfall of their era through the news. She often spoke bitterly of the humiliation of going from living in freedom to being confined in rat-like housing. Her husband died of infection due to the poor sanitation of the time, and the stress of the transition only hastened his end. She was left alone with her mother in a society where job competition with machines and automation was so brutal that they were forced into the world’s oldest profession: prostitution.

Though his grandmother fell due to necessity, his mother did so out of greater need neither smart enough to study nor healthy enough to work in a factory because of asthma, and only 18 years old. A whole generation failed to receive education; most could barely read and write. His mother belonged to that lost generation.

Both women later changed their course in life when they found the three-year-old twins who would become Erin and Lucas. As humans began adapting to this new way of life, they found work as waitresses in high-turnover restaurants, determined to ensure their children would never experience the same misery they endured.

His grandmother often said that her husband’s final wish was to see the surface one last time.

Lucas remembered how, as a child, he would sit around 6 PM drinking tea and eating sopaipillas with his sister while their grandmother looked after them as their mother slept. She’d tell them stories of how, in southern Chile (back when it existed), it could rain for weeks without stopping. Sometimes there were lightning storms so intense that power and water were cut off, all due to the wild power of nature—and that, she said, was exactly what she missed most when she moved to what was once the capital: Santiago.

“His grandmother was in Santiago at the time of the so-called Blackout of 2032. She used to say it was a capital so heavily polluted that it was popularly known for its smog, making the sky far less blue than in the south of the country. She remembered coming back from a long day with relatives at the age of 16, then sitting at a large table they had to watch TV and catch up on the news. What she found was a war declaration from an alien that wasn’t all that different from humans.

This individual called himself ‘The Spokesperson of Andromeda’ and spoke perfect English. The aliens even included subtitles depending on where the broadcast was being watched.

“As of today: The Holy Empire of Andromeda will take what rightfully belongs to it in the Milky Way. The grace period for negotiations has ended. Planet Phattie has fallen alongside Jupiter, and Neptune will be next. War has been declared before the Intergalactic Summit following the multiple violations committed by the Milky Way against the Most Holy Empire of Andromeda.”

As soon as the broadcast from that political figure ended, all news channels went dark, while explosions could be heard outside. Various devices like phones, TVs, and others started to explode no matter where they were. This was due to an electromagnetic attack that collapsed the chips in the devices, triggering the massive blackout responsible for the death of one-third of Earth’s population: the Blackout of 2032.

His memories and imagination came to a halt as Vikta Goryashko resumed her controversial speech, which Lucas watched with fascination, hope, and tears racing down his cheeks.

The deputy director said:

“No matter how challenging the tasks assigned to you may be, regardless of which faction you choose, whether it’s ours or not, I ask that you choose and give your hearts to the well-being of humanity from the standpoint you consider right,” she continued. “And if, after this, my speech has touched your hearts and you decide to join us, rest assured we will fight for change and for building a fruitful future where people—regardless of origin, race, or age—can live fully and in peace.”

The police again tried to remove the journalists, but apparently, these words were worth the blows.

“We will overcome every obstacle for the sake of: peace, stability, and the well-being of our society. Therefore, I invite you to join the Research and Security Faction, and to fully commit yourselves to the pursuit of justice. Make history and lead humanity’s emancipation from the threat that now terrifies us. Without further ado, my dear young people and future colleagues: Congratulations on your graduation. Nothing makes me happier than being able to entrust you with a piece of responsibility for our future, which now lies in the hands of each and every one of you. Thank you very much.”

A sepulchral silence followed the determined woman’s closing words. Apparently, everyone in the room was too stunned to react whether they were graduates, police, vice-captains, or journalists. The speech was deeply emotional for many, who broke down in tears at the thought of being free again. It even affected the journalists who, just minutes ago, had been desperate for a scoop. And as for the woman’s fellow directors, their faces were a clear poem of discomfort as they awkwardly exchanged glances with one another.”