Kill the Sun

When Nick saw Jenny fall asleep, he nodded with pride.

'That went quite smoothly,' he thought.

For the next 30 minutes, Nick waited in the Containment Unit to make sure that nothing was happening.

Nothing happened.

"I will be back in a bit," Nick told the Dreamer as he left the Containment Unit.

Naturally, the Dreamer didn't answer.

"How did it go?" Wyntor asked, standing in front of the exit of the Containment Unit.

"Perfect," Nick said with a grin. "She was obviously scared, but she didn't run away and voluntarily sat down to sleep."

Wyntor also smiled. "You found a good one this time, Nick."

Nick nodded. "Yep! If everything works out, she will take the shift after mine, which should be from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. I will arrive at 6 a.m. now every morning since I'm not the only one working with the Dreamer anymore."

"Sounds great," Wyntor said. "Now, we only need one more person."

Nick sighed. "I'm not looking forward to more of these interviews, but that's why I'm getting paid more."

Wyntor chuckled a bit. "That's how it works, yes."

"Is Pator back?" Nick asked.

"He's outside," Wyntor said.

Nick nodded and walked out of the door.

Nick quickly found Pator and talked to him a bit before going back to the hotel.

After entering Horua's room, a bitter smile appeared on Nick's face, and he sat on the bed beside Horua.

As always during the day, Horua sat on his bed, just looking into empty space without doing anything.

"Hey, Horua. You remember the new employee I told you about this morning?"

Nick talked to Horua for a while, telling him everything about his day.

After that, Nick got Horua some soup and some water.

"I'll be right back. I also have to check up on Jenny," Nick said before going back to the warehouse.

Nick entered the Containment Unit and saw that nothing had changed.

For the next eight hours, Nick went back and forth between the warehouse and Horua's room.

Finally, the eight hours were up, and it was time for Nick to wake up Jenny.

"Hey, eight hours are over," Nick said to the Dreamer, still standing over Jenny.

The Dreamer had been focused on Jenny's closed eyes, but a moment later, its head slowly moved back.

It slowly turned to look at Nick before going back to its corner.

Nick just nodded before walking up to Jenny.

After gently nudging her for a while, Jenny slowly opened her eyes.

But then, her eyes suddenly shot open, and she immediately pulled her arms up like she was trying to protect herself from an attacker.

"Wow, wow, calm down, Jenny!" Nick shouted.

Jenny froze. "Nick?" she asked in confusion.

Then, she slowly lowered her arms and looked around.

"Oh, right!" she shouted before her eyes fixed on the Dreamer.

She still felt scared looking at it, but it was not as bad as before.

"Is it over?" Jenny asked.

"Yep," Nick answered. "Eight hours are up. You successfully finished your first session with a Specter! Congratulations!"

Jenny almost couldn't believe it.

She had done it!

She had actually worked with a Specter!

So, did this mean that she was a real Zephyx Extractor now?

She didn't feel any different, though.

"Come, let's go out," Nick said.

Jenny looked more at the Dreamer as she followed Nick out of the Containment Unit.

When the door closed behind her, she felt like a huge pressure had vanished from her shoulder.

"Want to see how much Zephyx you made?" Nick asked with a smile.

Jenny's eyes opened wide with intrigue, and she nodded.

Nick led her to the console and looked at the gauge.

Yet, when Nick saw the results, he was surprised.

"Four grams," he said with interest.

"Is that a lot?" Jenny asked.

"For the company, four grams represent 4,000 credits," Nick said. "For you, it represents 400 credits."

Jenny just looked with shock and surprise at the gauge.

400 credits.

She had just earned 400 credits.

For just eight hours of work.

For just this bit of work, Jenny had secured two months of taxes for her and her partner.

It was ridiculous!

"Want your money?" Nick asked.

Jenny felt a bit put on the spot, but she still nodded sheepishly. "Sorry, but I really need it."

"Of course," Nick said with a chuckle. "Wyntor already went home. So, let me get your money."

Nick walked over to Wyntor's office and opened it with a key.

Inside Wyntor's office, Nick took out a thin sheet of malleable metal and put it on the desk.

The next moment, Nick grabbed a couple of different metallic stamps and heated them on some kind of hot plate.

Lastly, Nick stamped the number 400 into the malleable piece of metal and then stamped Dark Dream's official stamp on the bottom.

After waiting for a bit, Nick grabbed the bottom of the piece of metal and pulled.

A second piece of metal with a different color was pulled out of the first piece of metal.

The second piece of metal also had the number 400 and the company's stamp on it.

Naturally, the first piece of metal was some kind of document that allowed the owner to take 400 credits out of Dark Dream's account, and the second piece of metal was a copy.

Nick left the copy on Wyntor's desk and left with the first piece of metal.

"Here you go," Nick said, handing the first piece of metal to Jenny.

Jenny just looked at it with confusion.

"Hand this to this bank," Nick said, pointing at a symbol at the corner of the piece of metal. "They will keep the plate and give you 400 credits in exchange."

Jenny looked with wonder at the plate.

"By the way," Nick said, remembering something. "You should have an ability now."

Jenny looked at Nick with a bit of confusion.

"You know, an ability from a Specter," Nick said. "The very thing that makes Zephyx Extractors Zephyx Extractors."

Jenny realized what Nick meant and looked at her hands with wonder.

"What kind of ability?" she asked.

"I dunno."