Pathway to Destiny
In the Future…
Harley’s office was more like a huge robotics lab. The walls were clear glass from ceiling to midsection, then brushed aluminum plating the rest of the way down. The ceiling was one huge illuminated piece, that didn’t hurt your eyes to look at it. You could see either end of the entire lab, no matter where you stood. There were about twelve different project rooms, though not all were in use. It seemed like a maze within a maze when looking at it straight forward, but the layout was ingenious. You could see the progress of any project, no matter the vantage point.
I walked in past security checkpoints and no one bothered to ask my name, let alone try to stop me. I watched hovering mechanical objects teleport from one end of a room to another. Sometimes they had objects on top, and sometimes those objects didn’t reappear. I wondered where they went.
I spotted Harley through the glass at the back of the lab. He had one of the glass window walls blacked out and full of schematics and mathematical equations. His hair had begun to grey near the temples, and peppered his sandy blonde hair a little. He had a few creases in the corners of his eye and a few deep think lines embedded in his forehead. I half laughed to myself, but still not bad for someone over a million years old I guess.
“Harley?” I said aloud as I entered the room.
He was startled to see me. I had expected a happier greeting, this was not the case.
Harley froze at the sight of Jasylin, he’d been warned of this. Not once or twice, three times and by three different people. “You have to leave.” He warned.
“Oh come on now, you haven’t seen me for centuries!” I teased and tried to lighten the mood. “What could I have possibly done.”
“Not you. Not yet.” Harley turned back to his work as if he had just gotten the answer to his question. He held up a finger to Jas and worked quickly on his screen. He turned back around, “Listen, I can’t help you. Mark says if help you, I’m eradicated. Jonothan says if I help you, Mark finds me out. Sertoff….” Harley shook his head. “You should have stayed married to Sertoff, done us and countless worlds a favor. What are you so selfish for? You know what, you end up with him anyway. I’ve been there and seen it with my own eyes. I had to tell you, you told me to tell you.”
“I told you to tell me.” I mocked and crossed my arms.
“Stubborn as always, and that why millions of people die all over the planet. Threshold ravaged. You know they destroyed that planet and everything living on it. Sertoff had it razed because that’s where he met you. ‘Let it burn’ he said to me, ‘Let it burn and be destroyed like I was. Let even the memory of it become ashes.’ You weren’t there. I was.” Harley shook his head clear of the memory. “You think Mark is any better? He has it out for you. Have you seen the statue? People have said it’s been here since the origin of time. He has built you into this mythological goddess to be worshiped and famed. You are more important here than the very air people breathe. He did that, do you hear me? He did that. In the history books, in the social lessons. Ingrained in every citizen of every nation in every continent for centuries. Centuries Jasylin.”
Harley turned back to his work, “No way. I’m not helping. I don’t care what it is.”