Noia bristles. “What were you employed to do?”

Deline studies Noia and for a moment she is not sure if the woman will answer.

“I was to retrieve the subject, you, from the mountains and bring them back to ETHR headquarters.”

“How did you know the subject would be me?”

Deline points at her right ear and Noia touches her lightning earring. She cannot recall what material it is made of but it warms under her fingers.

The door opens then and a man enters. There is already a wide smile stretched across his lips and his green-ringed hazel eyes are lit with excitement.

“Ah, welcome back, my devine Deline!”

He moves to give her a hug but she pulls a file from her rucksack and presses it to his chest at arms length, a bored expression on her face. Noia watches them in quiet confusion. There must be something she can pick up about them in their behavior but the words swim out of reach.

“Mission completed in full, sir.”

The man sighs but retains his smile and accepts the documentation. “Thank you, as always. Ah, this must be the guardian!” He approaches Noia and bows at a respectful distance. “It is a great pleasure to meet you, lady. You arrived quicker than expected. I hope Deline did not hurry you along?”

Noia shakes her head. “I need to find an old friend. Deline insists this is the quickest way to get the answers I need.”

At “old friend” Noia swears she sees something flicker across his eyes but the emotion is there and gone too quickly for her to identify it. He nods at her answer. “Well, I am more than happy to offer my help and my resources to aid you, lady guardian. Now, I suggest we start updating you to the world at large. Doubtless you are confused by the modern advances you saw on your way here. How long was it exactly that you were asleep?”

“Wait, why are you aiding me – and who are you?”

He straightens further, eyebrows rising. “I am so sorry, my lady guardian. Let me introduce myself. I am Crevan Almira, CEO here at ETHR.” He takes her hand in his, kisses the back of it, and then gestures for her to follow him to the desk.

“ETHR is Energy to Thrive the Human Restoration. Our vision is to provide the means for sustainable regrowth of the human population via alternative forms of energy hand in hand with environmental restoration.”

Noia stops beside him and frowns. “What do you mean ‘regrowth of the human population’?”

Crevan gestures out of the glass wall beside the desk. “You are drawn to the light on these buildings but do you really see? Look there, and there,” he points, directing her gaze.

Noia leans forward, squints – then takes a step back.

Parts of the building walls are crumbled. A few have scaffolds where it seems a team is rebuilding them. There is debris scattered across the rooftops and still other structures had all but melted from the heat of a great fire. Noia hears the ghosts of screams and flinches away from the memory of acid heat and the cold sting of shrapnel.

“It is like this all over the world.” Crevan’s tone is gentle. “We grieved for too long but when there was finally a reform it was international – a Global Alliance. Of course, the individual countries sub-manage to an extent.”

Crevan claps his hands, starting Noia. “As to why am I aiding you? Ever since it leaked that our research department located the guardian of Pandora’s Box there has been a surge in the restoration efforts! We hope that you will recognize our efforts and grant humanity access to the box.” He places his palms together and leans towards her. 

Memory tickles.

“How will I know how when to open it?”

“He will speak your name.”

“Our Most Devine One?”

“Who else?”

“What is in it?”

“Wonders to grace the kingdom of man for his cleverness.”

“I am honored to be the vessel for a gifted deliverance.”

“You are blessed.”

Noia takes a step back from Crevan but he is busy tapping on at a rectangle of lit squares set into the desk and the screens are lit up with words and images. Noia glances back at Deline to find the darker skinned woman had noticed her retreat. Deline makes no comment but perhaps the quirk at one corner of her mouth was not Noia’s imagination.

“Now,” Crevan says, “since we don’t know if you are able to handle our memory enhancement nanos or if the VR lenses will give you nausea we’ll have to do this manually for now.” He spins the leather chair around for her.

“What?”

He gestures to the curved screen over the desk. “Welcome to the world wide web, an international database. I’ve pulled up a few cultural, historical, and technological sites you can explore to start with using the internal links. I must warn you, however, that while the Internet is filled with wonderful resources it can also be a dangerous, distracing place. Be careful which wormhole you venture into.” He winks at Noia and Deline snorts.

Noia sits and Crevan explains how to use the computer from over her shoulder. “This is a lot of information.”

“It’s not too bad,” he says; his mouth is by her ear and she twitches. He chuckles and stands. “I promise. Applying yourself to ingest a mass of information is like going into a meditative state – surely you did meditation in your time?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Deline and I will be over here going over some particulars. You won’t even notice us. After you’re caught up we’ll see how we can help each other, hm?”

Something about the memory nags at Noia, warning her, but she needs the information so she turns to the screen.

It takes a while to submerge herself in the research but soon Noia finds herself speeding through.

When Noia finally looks up from the desk she is alone in Crevan’s office. Deline’s rucksack is open on the ground and papers from the file are spread across the coffee table, weighed down by the mobile phone. From the faint light coming through the windows she estimates it is close to half past 6pm.