Sunday, May 14, 2023

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: March 11, 2399

Generated by Canva text-to-image AI software
A thing that Leona and Mateo found out is that they can’t really go to the Daltomism church. Well, it’s not called a church, but a Forum, where ideas are shared, and issues are resolved. You don’t have to have dark skin to join or attend services, but lighter skinned people are a minority, and they stand out, which would make it more difficult for them to gather information to find the real Dalton, and maybe Alyssa. A couple of newbies showing up and asking a lot of questions is not the best way to complete this mission.
“I’ll do it,” Heath volunteers.
“No, we can’t ask you to do that.” The Matics knew that he would offer as soon as he started explaining the situation to them. They didn’t have to discuss with each other for both to know that they were going to decline. It’s not that they don't trust him to handle it, but not too long ago, he was trying to get out. He had his problems with Marie, yes, but he seemed tired of the whole time traveler thing in general. He never really died, so what has changed since then? Why is he so interested in helping with this?
“No, I want to, and I’m the only person you know with any hope of getting anywhere with this investigation.”
“That’s not...entirely true,” Leona points out.
“What do you mean?” Mateo asks. They’re not automatically on the same page for whatever this part is, though.
“I could...create an illusion of being someone who fits in there better.”
Mateo takes a beat before responding. “You wanna go in black face?”
“That’s—no, Mateo! Jesus, that’s not how I would put it!”
“Lee-Lee, just because you use fancy powers to do it, doesn’t mean that’s not what you’re doing. It’s in very poor taste.”
“Well, we can’t let him do it. He is not trained, he is not experienced, and this isn’t his fight.”
“Yes, it is,” Heath argues. “I care about you, and Marie, and all of your friends. Besides, if this threatens my whole world, then I say it is my fight regardless. You can always just leave. I have family and friends here.”
Leona sighs, and thinks about it. He’s right, he’s their only option. Dalton has never shown up on any of their satellite scans, which aren’t working right now anyway. This is probably a dumb idea. If this were a decent route to finding him, someone else in the faith probably would have by now. Or maybe members have, and everytime they do, they get recruited or killed to silence them. Either way, it’s dangerous. “Okay, but you’re not going in tomorrow. We need to prep you, and you need to tell us everything you know about it first.”
“There’s a forum meeting tomorrow,” Heath says. “I should establish myself in the community. I haven’t been to a meeting in a long time, and no one in New York knows me. I promise, I won’t sneak around the Meeting House, or ask a bunch of questions. I’ll just get people used to seeing me around.”
“All right, but I do wanna strategize before you make any decisions. If this mission doesn’t get dangerous, it probably also doesn’t get us anywhere.”
“Great,” Mateo decides. “I assume there’s a dress code? Let’s go shopping.”

No comments :

Post a Comment