Ivan Kal - Olympus

“That will help a lot if they refuse to let us go.” Elias said.

“Yes I know, but it will also hurt us, when the world sees what we have been hiding from them… But even now I don’t know if I would have done anything differently, damn.” Tomas said, shaking his head.

“There is nothing you could have done differently, and in the end we will tell our side, they will tell theirs and the people will decide on their own, and if people condemn us, then we don’t want them in any case.” Elias said.

Tomas looked at him for a moment and then nodded, some of the worry going out of his face.

“You are right, as always my friend. Now we prepare for the day we finally tell the world our intentions.” Tomas said looking out at the endless sea of stars on the wall screen.

Jun 2094 – One year later

Adrian Farkas ran down the stairs as fast as he could, he wanted to be one of the first to meet the visitors. He saw them from the bedroom window, they came in an all-black sleek car, and he didn’t know the manufacturer, but then he never much cared about cars, he did saw some kind of symbol on its side but he didn’t recognize it. He ran past the other kids in the living room and came up to the front door, Miss Mayberry was already there, opening the door. She exchanged a few hushed words with the visitors and then stepped aside for them to come in. When they stepped in he saw a man and a woman that were young, a lot younger than Miss Mayberry who was an old lady with gray hair, these people looked barely older than Mathew and he was twenty years old, he was Miss Mayberry’s grandson and he visited her here at the orphanage from time to time. Adrian’s spirits dropped a bit at their age, they looked too young to be here to adopt, and if they were, then they wouldn’t want an older child like Adrian who had just turned ten. Most children who get adopted are a lot younger, and it’s very rare for a child older than five to be adopted. Adrian had already started losing hope that he would ever get adopted.

This couple was dressed in strange clothes, he never saw anything like them, and the uniforms were black, with dark blue outlines. The man turned to Miss Mayberry and whispered something to her. She turned towards the living room with an expression that meant she was greatly displeased about the situation but couldn’t do anything about it. She sent all the smaller children out of the house to play, while telling the two older children to stay.

“Here they are.” Miss Mayberry said.

“We were told that there are three.” The woman said.

Miss Mayberry made a sour face and turned towards the stair where Adrian was standing and saw him. “Adrian! Get in here.”

Adrian quickly followed, Miss Mayberry was not in a good mood, and it wasn’t wise to disobey her when she used that tone. He entered the living room, and sat on the couch alongside Mary who was thirteen years old, and Greg who was nine.

The man and the woman sat on the couch opposite them and looked at them closely. Adrian was aware that they sent all the younger children away, so he felt his hopes rising again, maybe they wanted to adopt an older child.

The man turned towards Miss Mayberry. “Thank you, that will be all, we will notify you when we are done.”

Miss Mayberry opened her mouth as if to say something but then stopped herself and left the room.

The pair looked at the children for a moment before speaking.

“Hello, my name is Andrea, and this is Rodney.” The woman said pointing to the men sitting beside her.

“Let me start by saying that we are not here to adopt you, well not exactly.” She said, and Adrian felt all his hopes shatter, he could see that it was the same for the Mary and Greg.

“We are from a company called Olympus.” She said, but Adrian barley heard her, all he could think about was how he would never be adopted, he would spent his next eight years in this house, and then he would be thrown out, with nothing but the clothes on his back. He knew that the children with parents got to go to school, and then they got jobs afterwards, but here they had very little in terms of schooling, and he knew the stories that were told at night by other kids, that those who don’t get adopted by age of eighteen usually became homeless, living on the streets.

“We are here to offer you something. We are making this offer only to those children who are older than seven, and who were labeled as, well troublemakers, as you must know by now that few get adopted past that age, and with your records there really is a very little chance of you ever getting adopted.” Adrian looked down at his feet, he knew that she was right, but what could she offer them if they weren’t going to adopt them?

“We have been granted permission by your government to take any child that was willing to go with us, we have many programs that would give you a better chance at life than what you could get here. If you choose to accept. I know that you are young, but I assure you that you would have a better life with us then what you would have here. Your country can do very little for you, they simply don’t have enough funds to get all of you sufficient schooling and care you need to be self-sufficient after you leave the orphanage. But if you came with us, you will never be adopted, you would live with other children your age, go to school with them, and you will have teachers but no parents. You would be able to become whatever you want, and your family would be your friends and classmates.” She said.

Adrian looked up, they were offering them to go to school, but at a price of not having a family, he knew that there was little chance of him getting adopted, but even so there was a chance that he would, no matter how small.

“And when we turn eighteen?” Mary asked.

“You will stay with us as long as you want to study, and when you are finished you will be able to choose whether to stay and work for Olympus or come back here to United States and find a job on your own. During the time you stay with us everything you need will be provided by us.” The man, Rodney said.

“But what do you get from this? Why do you want us to go with you?” Mary pressed.

“Because we hope that you will stay with us when you finish your studies.” Andrea said.

The children remained silent. Adrian didn’t understand why he would be of value to them even if they gave him schooling, but this was a chance to get out of this house, to go to school, to make something of his life on his own, not just to stay and wait for fate to make something for him.

Adrian didn’t know a lot about Olympus, only what he saw on TV and that was very little, the news said that it was a big company, and that its founder was the wealthiest man on the planet, Adrian remembered that he was an orphan just like Adrian, and yet he managed to become the wealthiest man in the world. Adrian raised his hand.

“I want to go.” He said.

Mary raised her hand as well. “Me too.”

Greg looked at them and then at the woman. “I don’t want to go. I want to get adopted.” He said, Adrian heard in his voice the same conviction that Adrian himself had before he realized that it will never happen. Adrian knew that he was smarter than the other kids, more “grown up” than those close to his age even older, but being smarter in an orphanage was a quick way to get bullied by bigger kids, so he learned to hide it. Greg still believed that he would get adopted one day, just like most other kids here, but Adrian knew it would never happen, the last of his hope died minutes ago. But he was also smart enough to know that these people were offering them something that he would never have otherwise, and he thought that perhaps the way they gave them the choice was a kind of a test, maybe they only wanted kids smart enough to see the opportunity they were offering.