Really?

“Really?”

“Really”

“How much did this bottle even cost? How did you afford it? How could you?”

“My allowance”

“And?”

“That’s it”

“Bullshit”

“Nope”

“How long?”

“Long what?”

“How long did you save up for this?”

“The entirety of last month and a loan on this week’s allowance”

“5 weeks? All right, if you really don’t want to tell me, it’s fine”

“I could show you my credits history if you want”

“Like you would not have altered it. It’s fine really. All I care now is when to open it.”

“How about now?”

“I appreciate you giving me this Zig, truly. But this hardly seems the occasion worthy to open such a gift”

“I’ll make it worthy”

“Ah…. So, it isn’t a gift. What do you need?”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Occam’s Razor”

“Surely, you could not eliminate the possibility that this being a gift that easily”

“The Stardust alone? Could be a gift I suppose. But whatever you have in mind to convince me to open it surely comes with a cost”

“Could the cost not simply be me getting you drunk?”

“Why? You want me?”

“Oceans No!! I meant it would be funny to see the great Lis Rive blabber in a drunken stupor”

“So, you want me and embarrassed?”

“Oceans, there’s just no winning with you, is there?”

“There is but not when it’s a business deal”

“Fine. I do need your help”

“Alright. The label on the bottle reads 80% Stardust, 15% Sio, 3% Water, 2% Hea. That gets you four…no five minutes. I am feeling generous.”

“More than enough. Need your help to off Url Victus for good”

“Wow, color me surprised Zig. Didn’t think you had it in you to engage in your family trade”

“That doesn’t feel like a compliment.”

“Well, it was meant to be one.”

“Thank you..? Anyway, as soon as Url disappears, some fingers may point to me. I want those and every other pointer at someone else”

“Do you have a specific someone?”

“Yes…”

“Yours will be the only finger pointing at me Zig, put it down. This won’t work”

“I can make it work. You just have to play the part to make me disappear from the suspects as I make Url disappear from… well, everywhere”

“Let’s say even if you can pull this off and that’s a whale sized ‘if’, there is no way for me to escape if I become the prime suspect”

“You will not have to escape, after all you had nothing to do with Url’s disappearance.”

“As if that would stop the pointing fingers”

“Wow, color me surprised Lis. Didn’t think you had it in you to doubt the judicial system that is managed by your own family”

“Smartass”

“Alright, I am sorry. But you can’t seriously say you’ll be convicted of anything”

“I suppose. But what’s in it for me?”

“I am getting to it. Url has been managing the G.H.T of house Victus among other things.”

“…”

“Yup, with him gone, all the G.H.T. scandal will come to light. People will naturally suspect me due to my… encounters with Url but if we give house Victus a strong reason to suspect you, then they will summon you to the court and since they won’t find anything….”

“House Rives will see that as an insult given our history with Victus”

“And G.H.T scandal will push other houses over the edge, considering the amount house Victus siphoned off for years. And so, things will escalate until-“

“Order for house extermination”

“will be granted”

“House Victus will end. Pearls Zig, this could actually work. Not bad. So, what will make me a stronger suspect than you?”

“All right. As it stands now, Url has contacts with every house except you Rives. He’s looking for a weak spot in the family and drag them to the G.H.T. siphoning off business. When he gets a Rive, he’ll have the judge, jury and executioner on his side.”

“You want me to play the rat caught in Url’s trap? For a moment there, I actually thought you would have a plan that I can agree with. Thanks for the Stardust”

“Wait, don’t leave”

“Why not?”

“I still have 2 minutes and 10 seconds”

“…”

“…”

“Tick Tock Zig”

“Right. There is one more thing you need to see.”

“How do I know this video is not compromised”

“That’s a house Rive tier 2, Data-pad. No one but a Rive can even access it”

“Is that Ack Rives?... coming out of-“

“Best not to say it out loud”

“…”

“Tick tock, Lis”

“Oceans Zig. How did you get this?”

“Sorry, house secrets”

“You are the house Zig. No other family member for you to have family secrets”

“Still, have to maintain the reputation of the once great Serts”

“Waves, I hate you Zig”

“Most do. So, unless you want the honorable Miss. Ack Rives to be removed from the council and the Riv-”

“I have to play the rat in Url’s trap”

“Pearl”

” So once House Victus is exterminated, this video will be as well?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want”

“….”

“I just thought, considering what Ack did to your mother, you would like to…. You know”

“Ack is a Rives, Zig. And Rives take care of their own”

“Your father will disagree”

“At-least I have one”

“[SIMULACRUM HAS BEEN PAUSED]”

“Ouch”

“Bad ending kid”

“I almost had her”

“Zig, the only thing you almost had is a head broken with a hard liquor bottle”

“Guess, I have to get a soft liquor bottle, I knew stardust was too expensive”

“Jokes aside kid, Lis Rives is going to be a tough move, we should go with Ack like we originally planned. We can try to get Ack’s neural data for the simulacr-”

“No time”

“We have two weeks unti-“

“NO TIME”

“Zig…?”

“Url will disappear in two days. I have completed all the preparations. Only Liv remains”

“What? Why two da-… Waves Zig. You want all of this to go down on the anniversary.”

“Could not resist it”

“Don’t be foolish kid. We have planned this for a long time. It’ll be too obvious. An all-out civil war breaking out on the anniversary of extermination of house Cert. People don’t even have to connect the dots; it’s a line already”

“Since when you care about the people’s opinion uncle?”

“Since they wanted and cheered the extermination of our house”

“They wanted it because the Victus wanted. They cheered because the Rives cheered. They do whatever the houses tell them to do”

“Only works when the people like the houses. They won’t listen if they think you are the bad guy. The moment civil war clause is activated the Rives and Victus will figure out we Certs are behind this. They will complete the extermination started 23 years ago even if it ends up being the last thing they could do before dissolving into war. All this scheming, we will not live to see the revenge fulfilled, family avenged… we will not live to rightfully rule the system. Only ash will remain”

“I do not have anything else uncle. For 23 years, all I had is the ashes of my family. Why should anyone else have anything?”

“What are you talking abou-“

“I know Uncle”

“You know what? I don’t understand Zig. There is no reason for us to die. In fact, we deserve the throne. We suffere-“

“Uncle…. I KNOW”

“Kid?”

“That’s what you saw that day. A kid. That kid thought you saved him because he was family. He thought you cared for him because his entire family has been exterminated in front of him.”

“Zig…”

“I know Uncle. I know you also were part of the extermination.”

“You don’t kno-“

“I know, you only saved me because you thought I could get you the throne one day. I have to say Uncle; I always hated your patience”

“…”

“Every single person alive, wanted the Certs exterminated. It’s only natural a Cert wants everyone to be exterminated now”

“What you want, does not mean flotsam brat”

“At least you are honest at the end”

“The end…? Ya maybe it is... I have put up too much with you for so many years. Guess I should have taken my chances alone”

“I removed the bullets from that gun Uncle. Also removed the poison in your shoe knife and made sure your arch battery is depleted. Like I said, this is the end Uncle. For everyone”

“Wait Zig. Think this through. If I die, there is chance things won’t go the way the simulacrum predicted. Everyone will have either sympathy for you or will be cheerful at my death. All the rehearsal will be worthless”

“All the rehearsal I did with you, yes. Good thing, I tried every conversation with your death updated as well”

“Guess you really did think this through”

“Any last words Uncle?”

“Ya. You know what this is?”

“A remote? For wha-uhkkkk”

“For you brat. It’s a remote for you”

“Wh..uhgkd..haphdfhdfk?”

“You did everything right kid. Just like I thought you.”

“ahhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH”

“Guess the circuit is faster than I thought. I was told it would take 5-10 minutes to reach your nerves”

“HHHHHHHHHkljl;,,,……”

“Now you lost your voice. Next will be your eyes. See kid? This is why you failed. Always save the bragging after you kill the prey and before it dies. But then again, I could never teach you to have even a droplet of patience”

“…..”

“Guess now I have to rehearse every conversation again with your death updated. No way I am going with Liv Rives. Have to get Ack’s neural data when she attends your funeral”

“….”

“I do feel sorry for you Zig. Guess I will put an end to your misery.”

“….”

“[SIMULACRUM 17 HAS ENDED. DESIRED OUTCOME: FAILURE]”

“Damn the Oysters. Just how many failsafe does that bastard have?”

“[SO FAR THE SIMULACRUM HAS COUNTED 14 COUNTERMEASURES]”

“I really hate his patience…. SIM what is a Circuit and how to bypass it?”

“[THE CIRCUIT IS A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL TRANSPLANT DEVICE THAT CAN BE USED TO CONTROL AND INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF EVERY ORGAN PRESENT IN THE ORGANISM. THERE IS NO WAY TO BYPASS IT OTHER THAN OPERATING THE FIBERS OUT”

“Waves!!!”

“[UNCLE AKA WEIV CERT IS APPROACHING. ETA 45 SECONDS]”

“Erase all Simulacrum data”

“[ERASING]….”

“[ERASING]….”

“[ERASING]….”

“I sure hope you are not erasing your dirty history kid”

“It is cleaner than you Uncle”

“What? I just had a carbon cleansing”

“You smell like a sea cucumber.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“People have the sense of smell. What happened to the stardust shipment?”

“We have to bribe another check point. Forget your allowance for the year kid”

“Really?”

“Really”