The days flew by with an almost deceptive calm.
Tyler spent them with his family, relishing the warmth of ho—the quiet mornings, the clatter of cutlery during breakfast, the off-tune singing from Devin’s room, and his mother’s peaceful humming as she folded laundry or stirred a pot in the kitchen.
He enjoyed every single mont with them. And for a mont, all of his plans receded into the background.
For a mont, he just wanted to forget about everything else and just spend every single day with his family.
He wanted to forget about taking control of Gumua, upgrading Freya, building the autonomous plant, and everything included. But he knew that he can’t do that.
Just the thought about that sickeness rearing his ugly head, always sent shivers down his spine.
And so, that peace was temporary.
Back in Gumua, things were steadily gaining montum. Silvanus was finally nearing the edge of his long-awaited leap.
After years of underground planning, deals closed in secrecy, and bruised optimism, he was on the verge of making his move.
The old regi’s grip was weakening. And now—with Tyler’s support and funding, the old guards would soon begin to feel the heat that’s coming for them.
Freya had also begun receiving responses from the forr operatives she contacted. Kimberly Ren, Amos Price, Logan Vance, and others.
Most of them didn’t jump at her ssage with excitent. Instead, they responded the way Tyler expected: cautiously, with clipped language and neutral curiosity.
So ignored the outreach entirely. Others replied with single lines: "Who are you?", "What do you want?", "State your purpose."
And that was enough for Tyler. He would had actually had beco suspicious of them if they had replied otherwise.
Tyler chatted with each of them individually, maintaining the illusion that he was just a high-level client looking to assemble a private unit.
He didn’t offer too many details—only that they’d be given full autonomy, high pay, and the kind of purpose that ca once in a lifeti.
Each operative was important. Not just for security, but for structure. If Tyler was going to operate independently on the scale he intended—building full-stack fabrication infrastructure—then he needed to eliminate variables. And that included human ones.
That’s why he decided to et them separately. He doesn’t want it to be like he was pitching to them as a group, as they sit around a round table.
No, this had to be personal. It was the only he could show them that he was serious and for them to take him serious. And one by one, he would win them over.
He instructed David to begin scheduling and preparing for each individual eting. The forr operatives were scattered across the globe.
David would do the traveling. Tyler needed soone they could see, vet, and trust—at least for the first encounter.
"I hope I’m not overworking David..." Tyler sighed, as he thought of how hard David had been working lately.
He decided that he would give him a raise, increasing his pay from a total of $150,000 to $500,000 monthly.
...
A full week had passed since Tyler returned ho. It was a quiet, golden week of laughter and peace.
But now, it was ti to return to Gumua.
Helena drove him to the airport herself. Devin rode in the back seat, fiddling with his ipod, trying to appear nonchalant—but Tyler could tell the kid was trying not to frown.
The sun filtered through the windshield as the car humd along the expressway.
The atmosphere in the car was silent, but everyone was thinking the sa thing. The atmosphere was about to beco awkward, and it was then that Helena glanced at Tyler.
"When will you be back?" she asked softly.
Tyler exhaled, folding his hands over his lap.
"I don’t know," he said truthfully. "It might be months this ti."
Helena didn’t say anything at first but her grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
"Months..." she murmured.
"I wish I could promise otherwise," Tyler added. "But if things go well, the real work starts. I’ll need to be there."
"I know," she said finally. "I just... I wish you didn’t have to carry so much."
Tyler looked out the window.
Helena smiled faintly and kept her eyes on the road. Helena sighed internally as she thought of how hard Tyler had been working for them.
She just wish that her baby boy could live his life like other boys his age. But she knew that he was doing sothing important. Even though she has exactly no idea what he was doing.
"Promise two things?" she said.
"Anything."
"Don’t overwork yourself. And call . Even if it’s just for a minute."
"I promise."
In the back seat, Devin leaned forward between the two front seats.
"And stay safe," he added. "Like, super safe."
Tyler smirked. "I plan to."
The rest of the ride was filled with casual chatter.
...
At the airport, they parked in the short-term section and got out together.
The terminal lood ahead, glass reflecting sunlight in sharp patches.
They walked in, Helena holding onto Tyler’s arm. She wanted to hold it more but they were now at the entrance to the security gate, so she had to let go.
Helena pulled him into a tight hug.
"I know I don’t say it often," she whispered. "But I’m proud of you. Whatever it is you’re doing out there... be proud of it, too."
Tyler nodded against her shoulder.
Devin hugged him next, arms tight.
"Don’t forget to send sothing cool. And pictures. And stories. You promised stories."
"I will," Tyler smiled, ruffling his hair.
He turned to walk toward the jet bridge, his bag slung across his shoulder.
Then he paused and turned back one last ti, walked up to Helena and looked her directly in the eyes.
"If you ever feel sick," he said, voice firm, "call imdiately without a second thought. Don’t try to keep it from because you don’t want to worry, okay mom?"
Helena blinked, as she was taken aback.
"I—okay. I will." she said, and smiled.
Then he looked to Devin and gave a subtle nod. Devin’s expression changed, becoming more serious. He understood what the gesture Tyler gave ant.
Tyler turned and walked toward his gate, the soft sound of departure announcents filling the air behind him.
...
Once on the plane, Tyler settled into his seat and pulled out his phone. The hum of the engines was a quiet background lody as he ssaged Freya.
"What’s the latest on the eting with the ministers and the military chiefs?"
{The Minister of Finance, the Chief of Staff have accepted private etings. We are still working on a silent path to the Defense Minister and the military chiefs. The Defense Minister’s schedule is erratic, but we’ll find the opening.}
"Good," he whispered.
He reclined his seat slightly and looked out the window. Clouds drifted lazily beneath them as the aircraft lifted above the coastline.
From here, the world below seed small—tiny pinpoints of cities, rivers like pencil lines, mountains like wrinkles in a map.
"The world looks so small from up here but it’s terrifyingly huge when you’re on the ground," he smiled to himself.
He has no idea why he said that, but he couldn’t help it. He smiled as he thought of what the next coming months hold for him.
As for what he said about probably not being to co back for months, it was actually true. Because if Silvanus takes control of Gumua, then the building of the autonomous plant would kickoff.
During that ti, Tyler would be holed up in the fab because he would be building Valkyrie-X GPUs, DRAMs and the NV based DRAMs for the supercomputing server for Freya’s upgrade to AGI level.
After the supercomputing server, he would have to start building the equipnts for the autonomous plant and the designing everything that would needed for it.
Tyler was already getting a headache just thinking about it. But he knew that there was no helping it. If he wants to be able to develop the cure for his mom, then it was sothing he has to do.
"All these for you and Devin, mom," he smiled.
He has left ho and now, Gumua and other things awaits him.
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