Deception

"Didn't you mention a human-looking creature?" Morena asked as she turned around to get a good look at him.

"I'm not sure what I saw; it was far away and dark. Could have been an animal next to a creature as well, or maybe just a human that was unlucky," Jack said while leaning back in his seat and looking out the window.

"I have never heard of something like this," Lance said as he looked at Jack. "Did it have tentacles and move as fast as these creatures do?"

"I didn't see any tentacles. It just looked like a human silhouette," Jack answered while looking back at Lance.

Laura, who was sitting next to Jack, leaned forward and looked at her dad, "That's scary, maybe there are creatures disguised as humans."

The entire car was silent, and Laura's words echoed in everyone's minds. For the rest of the journey, everyone but Ark, who was driving, and Jack remained awake, while the rest fell asleep almost instantly. They had not been able to sleep well for many days, and the exhaustion had taken a toll on their bodies. They never knew when they might be attacked, have to flee, or if there would be any food tomorrow. It was as much a psychological battle as it was a physical one. Especially Tim, who was the youngest in the group, had suffered the most from the anxiety. He had become very quiet these past days.

It took the group just a few hours to reach Gosi City, and they arrived when it was still bright. The city itself, just like Jalk City, was surrounded by a large wall, which seems to be typical in this country due to the threat of creatures. Even though they mostly spend their time in the high-density energy areas, they seem to venture out enough to warrant such a high level of security. As the group got closer to the wall, they could see a line of vehicles that required entrance. It looked like a military checkpoint to Jack since it has large reinforced vehicles standing guard and additional barriers that looked like they could stop a tank. They likewise had large weapons pointing in all directions that looked like old-fashioned cannons to Jack.

The men who were checking all the incoming vehicles were wearing interesting protective gear. It looked like reinforced armor based on some type of metal and organic composite. With his detection ability, Jack could sense Sym energy emanating from the armor. Maybe this was a way of overcoming the limitations of human strength to strengthen the body with external Sym energy. It is basically like the concept of an exoskeleton, but it uses Sym energy for the reinforcement instead of hydraulic means. As they got closer to the checkpoint, Ark gradually turned off the levitation function and gently sat the vehicle back on its four wheels.

"Ark, do you think I'll be fine without any documentation?" Jack said while looking at the rearview mirror.

"I did not expect that there would be a checkpoint here, but it should be fine. It is rare, but is not unheard of for those who live in nomadic groups near the high-density Sym areas to enter big cities without any documents. There is a process to naturalize since they are citizens of this country, but it is rarely used. I will talk to the guard and see what I can do. Worst case, they would not let you in, but then I can work on making your papers inside the city and should have your papers within a day. All I need is your full name, birthday, and as much as you know about your family tree," Ark said as he observed the military carefully.

A military officer turned toward their car and slowly stepped toward the driver where Ark was sitting. The armor was so heavy that everyone in the car could feel the vibration with every step the officer made. A gun was hanging on his right side, which reminded Jack of these old Supersoaker water rifles since it had a large container at the top and a small tube below. Jack could sense that the container was accumulating a high density of Sym energy, while the tube must be a way of shooting out a beam or maybe also some other mechanism. Since the gun seemed to also use Sym crystals, it was hard to know how this gun worked or what it did, but the energy accumulation was significant even for Jack.

"Documents and purpose," the military officer said with a neutral tone.

Ark handed the military officer his ID and said, "Ark Salting. We had to flee from Jalk City and will be staying in Gosi for the time being."

"I understand. Who is with you, Mr. Salting?" the military officer said with a slightly more engaged tone since the Salting Merchand Organization is famous in the country.

"We are eight people. My brother Luz and my sister Morena, as well as other refugees that we have been traveling with since Jalk," Ark said as he took the documents of the other travelers and handed them over to the officer, who read them carefully.

Suddenly, the group heard a loud noise coming from the back of the vehicle. As they turned around, they saw another military officer who had tapped his heavy gun against the trunk and motioned for Ark to open it. When Ark clicked the button to release the lock, the officer inspected the space closely and then closed the door and went on to the next car.

The officer who stood next to Ark handed him his documents back and looked at Jack. "Where are your documents?"

"Sorry, I don't have any. I was going to get new documents here in Gosi," Jack said.

"Where are you from?" the officer asked with a stern look.

"A nomadic village called Kell, we were living off-grid in the mountains near the high-density area. But we were attacked and only a few of us could escape," Jack answered, reciting his background story.

"I have never heard of that name. How many people were living with you?" the officer said as two of his colleagues walked towards the vehicle.

"No more than 100. We lived by hunting and occasionally trading with other cities but we mostly remained by ourselves," Jack answered.

"We do get people like that sometimes, but it is rare. But you do not seem to fit the profile," the officer said, looking at Jack's appearance and his perfect accent that suggested a city life rather than that of a nomad. "Step outside the vehicle."

"We have been through a lot, is there no way to—" Ark wanted to intervene but was interrupted by the officer.

"Everyone without documents is to be held and questioned. No exceptions. If all checks out, he will be released by the end of the day," the officer said.

"Jack, here is our address and some money. Get a taxi when you get out. I will make some calls when I get home to make sure you do not face any unnecessary trouble," Ark said encouragingly.

"Sure, thank you," Jack said as he stepped out of the car and kicked himself for not just jumping into the city by himself.

Jack walked toward the military officer and looked at him more closely. Since interacting with the humans from this planet, he had not been able to place their ethnicity from an Earthling's perspective. They did not look like any ethnicity he could think of, but if he met these people on Earth, they would fit right in. What a strange observation, Jack thought.

"Follow me," the officer said as he led Jack behind the city wall and toward a large building that reminded him of a correctional facility with reinforced windows and a plain exterior. The wall itself was taller than the one he had seen in Jalk City, and Jack assumed that Gosi must be much larger in comparison. The building had three stories and was as large as a mall. With his detection ability, Jack could sense the presence of at least 1,000 people in the building distributed across all the stories but also three underground basement levels.

As they entered, Jack was surprised that there were no receptions, desks, or offices as any official government building on Earth would have, but it more resembled a factory building that is functional rather than inviting. The officer led the way and stopped before a small arc that reminded Jack of a metal detector or body scanner he knew from airports. With his detection ability, he noticed that it was a device that made use of Sym energy, but, as he noticed with all the devices he had detected, there was no way for him to guess its function. The officer simply looked at Jack with a cold glare and motioned with his hand toward the arc device.

"Do you know what this is?" Jack asked the assistant.

"I do not," the assistant answered.

Jack was wary due to his lack of information, so he simply asked the officer, "What's this device?"

The officer gave Jack a blank stare and, after a pause, visibly annoyed, replied, "It's a scanner to make sure you are not hiding weapons or are a creature in disguise."

"I think it is scanning for Sym energy levels and their density. If I'm correct, then we have a problem since your levels are higher than those of all the creatures we have encountered so far," the assistant said.

"What if it has a false alarm?" Jack asked the officer with his eyebrows raised.

"There are no false alarms," the officer said, slowly reaching for the holster of his gun.

"Alright, alright," Jack said and slowly walked up to the arc. It was not shaped like a typical scanner but almost looked like one of those finishing lines you see at a marathon. It was broad with a width of about five meters and a height of at least three meters. Jack walked slowly to stall for time since he had a plan. If you can neither turn back nor move forward, then the solution might be to just jump. When the door behind them opened and another officer brought a person into the building, Jack's officer briefly looked back and gave Jack just enough time to execute his plan. Within a split second, Jack opened a window portal and jumped just about half a meter forward to skip through the scanner. From behind, the portal was entirely unnoticeable since it displayed the exit environment and did not have the dark-purple clouds that the normal portal has. Only the officer that stood nearby could have noticed something if he paid attention.

"You coming?" Jack said as he blatantly kept walking through the corridor as if it was he who was leading the officer. The officer turned around and, visibly confused at Jack's fast movements, followed after him with an irritated expression. As the officer walked through the scanner, the arc started shining with light and gave an eerie sound for just a moment. It seems like the Sym energy weapons were enough to make it go off, Jack thought.

The officer took the lead again and guided Jack down into the basement and into a room that looked like it was made for interrogations. It had no windows but only a desk and was fully reinforced with metal and other materials that Jack did not recognize. With his detection ability, Jack noticed that the entire room had Sym devices installed, and he assumed that these were likely similar to video cameras and microphones due to their positions in the room's corners and on the desk. The officer stayed at the door and said, "Sit down and wait." Then he simply shut the door and left.

Jack looked around the room and used his detection ability to identify what was happening in the neighboring rooms. About half of the rooms were empty, but the other half seemed to have active interrogations occurring. Jack enhanced his hearing by accumulating more Sym energy in his ears, which allowed him to listen in on the conversations. Most of them were related to refugees that simply lacked documents, and it seems like the people were held until their identity could be confirmed by cross-referencing their data with what was available from other cities. Jack could also hear some interrogations going south where people were accused of assault and looting during the crises in Jalk and other attacked villages. He noticed that the officers were not shy of using violence in difficult interrogations, and he even concluded that torture was used in some cases.

Jack was waiting for over an hour already and had been sitting on the ground in half-lotus position to circulate his energy. He would have loved to jump to his cave or even to Jalk City to get some food, but he refrained from blowing his cover as a nomad from a small tribe. He was bored, but this was likely part of their strategy, he thought. Those who are impatient make mistakes.

After another 20 minutes had passed, the door finally opened. Jack was still meditating and at the same time expanding his detection radius, which was a practice he had adopted since he learned the technique. Jack did not open his eyes but viewed his surroundings through Sym detection. The person who entered the room was not wearing armor but had a thin and elegant demeanor. Jack could sense that he was an ability user since he had Sym energy accumulated in part of his brain. That might be the reason why, unlike the officers in the other interrogation rooms, he is so confident without wearing any armor. When he saw Jack meditating in the center of the room, he gave him a perplexed look followed by a faint smile. He then quietly walked toward the desk and sat down to look through the documents he carried with him.

"Can you identify what his abilities are?" Jack asked the assistant, still meditating with his eyes closed.

"I assume it is telekinesis or a similar ability," the assistant said.

Jack slowly opened his eyes and looked at the officer who returned his gaze with a sharp stare. "Took you long enough," Jack said.

"We are very busy here. Let us begin," the officer said with a cold smile.

Jack sat down and looked at the officer with a friendly smile that almost looked amused at the situation. Since Jack had accumulated so much Sym energy, his sense of reality had greatly shifted. He felt very powerful and had to control his strength with every move he made. Since he was able to easily poke holes into stone, he could destroy everything if he didn't pay attention. To Jack, this situation posed no threat in the slightest since he could deal with it in a million ways. The only things that Jack was wary of were creatures and potentially some unknown weapons. All Jack tried to accomplish was to keep himself hidden for now to make it easier for him to learn as much as he can about dimensional jumps. According to the assistant, the knowledge is likely guarded by large organizations or families, so the best approach would be to build an identity and wealth to be able to trade such information. Jack needed to travel the world and gather information rather than being a refugee or picking fights with governments. But if it was unavoidable, Jack could also go down that route.

The officer proceeded asking Jack many questions about his background and how he ended up reaching Jalk City, as well as his observations. Jack answered all of the questions according to the background story he got from the assistant and left out all of his encounters with the creatures, as well as the experiences he made inside Jalk. After forty minutes of questioning, the officer put down his papers and leaned back to give Jack a long look.

"I want to be honest with you, Jack. Everything you have told me about your origins, your journey, and your arrival here makes sense. Everything but you," the officer said as he scanned Jack's face.

"I don't understand," Jack said with a neutral expression.

"All of the nomadic tribe people that would be in that area usually have darker skin and a thick accent that is normal in the region. They also have different hair colors, and their features look different. Your appearance does not match your story, and we have no way of verifying it," the officer said.

"That's racist profiling," Jack said with a smirk.

"We are taking our job seriously, and you might be a serious threat. If you cannot prove that your story is true, then we cannot let you inside the city," the officer said.

"I have no way of proving where I come from, but I want to obtain documents so that I can move freely. Is there a way to achieve that goal?" Jack asked with a serious expression.

The officer was experienced and was the highest-ranking military member in this facility. The reason why he took charge of this interrogation was because he sensed something from Jack that he could not explain. When Jack first entered the facility, the officer was standing near the entrance and was talking to two of his men. As soon as the door opened, the officer felt a light shock through his body, and the feeling became more pronounced when Jack was directly passing him by. While the officer did not realize this, it was Jack's detection ability that was the cause for this sensation since telekinesis and detection are both wide-area abilities that can, on occasion, interfere with each other. The reason for this strong response was the amount of Sym energy Jack was using since it was unprecedented for a human to have that much energy accumulated in his body and be able to use it so freely.

The officer was unsure what this sensation was, but he knew that it was related to Jack since he could feel it strongly as he was facing him in this room. Even with other ability users, he had not experienced such a thing. From talking to him, he was certain that Jack was human, but he also knew that this was not all that was to him. What the officer needed to find out was one thing. He needed to know what Jack's goal was so that he could identify if he was a threat or not. He had issued a level 2 alarm command to the entire military force in the facility already, and a team of guards was ready to barge in once he gave the signal. Now that Jack had stated his goal, the officer felt a slight sense of relief.

"Why is that your goal?" he said with a serious tone.

"I want to start a trading company and travel the world," Jack said with a cold but serious expression.

"Why?" the officer said coldly.

"I have my reasons," Jack answered.

The officer tapped his fingers on the desk and looked to the side where Jack knew a recording device was situated. He also knew that about 20 armed guards had been gathering in front of the door and seemed to wait for a signal. Jack was not worried, but all his hiding would have been for nothing if he breaks out now. He was not going to blow his cover easily, but he was also not going to play silly games to hide. He would play along as long as it was convenient, he thought.

"What do you want to trade?" the officer asked, still looking to the side and tapping his finger.

"Sym energy crystals. Big ones," Jack said with a smile.

The tapping stopped. The officer slowly looked back at Jack to see if he was serious. Sym energy crystals are the most valuable good for all governments since they are powering both military and economy, but the two-sided war against the creatures and other nations has tripled their prices in only five years. Artificial Sym energy crystals are used for low-energy applications, but most weapon systems and energy supply for factories still relies on natural crystals. The officer stared at Jack for at least half a minute before he answered. "How much do you have?" he said with a more curious tone.

"Three of about five kilograms each," Jack answered with a bored tone.

"If you hand them over to us then you will get all the documents you need," the officer said, starting the negotiation with an insulting offer.

"Are you kidding? These stones are worth at least 150 million CCC. If you don't want them, then I will go somewhere else," Jack answered as he crossed his arms.

"You don't have any crystals on you and you are locked up here. I don't think you are in a position to negotiate," the officer said.

"I'm a businessman. I always negotiate," Jack said, staring the officer down with piercing eyes.

The officer felt the shock in his body becoming stronger and tapped his fingers on the table again while holding Jack's gaze. Finally he broke it and leaned back. "Look, if you really have Sym crystals then we will buy them and we will also be able to provide you with documents. But we first need to have proof that you actually have crystals and that you will not be a threat to us," the officer said.

"Great, how about this. Pay me 140 million CCC for the crystals and on top give me documents and permission to be a non-affiliated trader," Jack said, still staring at the officer.

"If you can give us three Sym crystals of that size then we have a deal. When will you bring them?" the officer asked.

"I hid them nearby, I can bring them around in about 30 minutes," Jack said nonchalantly.

"Aren't you worried that we trick you and just take them?" the officer asked, trying to gauge if Jack was serious about the trade or not.

Jack slowly got up from his seat and gave the officer a glaring look with a wide grin, "I don't think you could trick me even if you tried."

Both the officer and Jack walked to the door and, after opening it, they were greeted by a few dozen armed soldiers. The men were making a path for the officer without requiring him to say a word, and they followed behind Jack in a single line.

The officer led Jack back to the outside of the city where he was first picked up and said, "Well, then get the stones. Someone will be waiting for you here."

Jack silently smiled and then went towards the rocky wasteland outside the city. It was about to get dark and the officer could not understand what Jack was planning. The whole situation seemed more than just unbelievable to him. It was outright absurd. No man in his right mind would hide such valuable crystals mere minutes from a large city. Families have built generational wealth with Sym crystals and they are the most valuable commodity on the entire planet.

"Keep your distance but follow all of his movements and report to me every ten minutes," the officer said as he turned around and headed back to the facility to finish important paperwork. "What a strange fellow," he mumbled to himself.

Jack had walked for less than ten minutes toward a mountain formation when he noticed about 20 soldiers being on his tail from different directions. They had grouped into pairs and were trying to keep their distance in order to avoid suspicion. With his detection ability, he did not even need to turn around to count them. The closest soldiers were flying above him through the air. It seems like the armor has some type of levitation ability since they were floating in the air without making a single sound, but Jack could notice the Sym energy circulating more violently around them. Jack walked toward a small cave that could barely fit a single person and stuck his arm inside. He then created a small portal back to his home cave and grabbed three of the many Sym crystals he had stored there. He put them on his back and turned around to go back to the city wall.

He could hear the soldiers exchanging their observations with great confusion through some type of communication device. To them his actions must have appeared absurd and borderline mentally ill.

After less than 30 minutes, Jack had returned to the city wall and talked to the soldier who was still waiting for him. "Alright, time to trade," Jack said as about 14 of the other soldiers landed behind him.

"Do you think this is a joke?" the soldier said, looking Jack dead in the eyes.

"Do you think this is?" Jack said as he grabbed a Sym crystal and showed it to the soldier. All 15 soldiers immediately took a step back and looked at Jack in absolute shock. What Jack did not know was that humans could not touch Sym energy crystals directly. These crystals have such a high Sym energy that even being directly near them will cause symptoms similar to radiation sickness. To touch a natural Sym energy crystal with one's bare hands is near suicide. All of the soldiers could immediately tell that the crystal was real since they felt immediate nausea but what they could not grasp was why Jack was unaffected by it and smiling at them as if he had brought a prize.

"Crystals are highly toxic. You should not touch them directly," one of the soldiers in the back said with a stammering voice, holding back the nausea.

"Oh, yes. Ouch. I forgot," Jack said while placing the crystal back into his bag and kicking himself that he made such a mistake. He would need to scold the assistant later.

A minute later, two soldiers brought a large safety container that was used to securely store Sym energy crystals but was also able to generate the energy value contained within them. Jack placed his three crystals inside the container and followed the soldiers back into the facility where he waited for the senior officer.

"I did not expect you to actually bring us Sym energy crystals. And even highly potent ones at that," the officer said with a bright smile. These crystals were so valuable that just being able to procure them was a valuable skill to have by itself. "Can you get more?"

"Let's first finish the deal before we make another one," Jack said while leaning against the wall. He was hungry and bored of all this bureaucracy.

"Okay, I will create a bank account for you under your name and deposit the 140 million CCC. You can pick up your trading license and personal documents at the state bank as well. Here is the address. Go there tomorrow after 1 p.m.," the officer said as he handed Jack a piece of paper.

Jack took the piece of paper and slipped it into his pocket. "Great, thanks," he said to the officer. As Jack was about to turn around, the officer continued, "My name is Officer Faber. If you have more energy crystals to trade, then contact me directly under the address and number on the paper."

"Sure, looking forward to it," Jack said as he walked to the door. He was still considering the possibility that they were trying to trick him, but since he was free to enter the city, he felt like they would likely keep their word. If they wouldn't, he could just jump into this place and get his stones back. Not that he needed them, but he disliked being taken advantage of.

As Jack was about to open the door and leave, the entire room suddenly drowned in a large siren-type noise and red light flickered throughout the facility. All the soldiers started to run in different directions, and Faber screamed into a communication device.

Jack focused on expanding his detection ability to find out what all the fuss was about and noticed the reason right away. A humanoid creature followed by five large creatures was approaching the city walls at a rapid pace.