“Can I come up with you?” she asked. The elevator was controlled by an intelligent system, if a person without the authority got into it, it would remain motionless which was why the girl asked Karl.

“Hello, how did you get in here?” Karl’s attendant kneeled so that she could be on the girl's level and ask questions without being intimidating.

“I… I just want to look around” Sarah’s face reddened and she glanced at Karl. She was still a student but she fantasized very much about being an Explorer which was why she loved coming to the Association. The entrance and first two floors had no one monitoring them so she could come and go as she pleased but to go any higher, someone had to take her and since she had been coming to the Association, no one ever agreed to except Karl.

Karl remained silent to see what the Staff would do. She hesitated for a while before motioning Sarah in. She wasn’t usually on the lower floors so she didn’t recognize Sarah and she was also too nervous to wonder why Karl knew the girl's name.

“Alright come in, but you have to stay with us okay?” she said as Sarah entered the elevator. The Staffer pulled the badge from her chest and touched it on the glass wall of the elevator and it finally began moving.

“Thank you, Ma’am” Sarah made a small curt bow at the woman and smiled.

“What’s your name?” Karl asked with interest.

The Staffer stared at him blankly like she didn’t understand what he was saying after all the man before her was Karl. She couldn’t believe or understand why he would care about her name.

“Ma’am? Ma’am, are you okay?” Sarah tugged at the Staffer’s sleeves.

“Oh, yes yes. I’m Melissa Agnes, I was raised by a single mother hence the surname” the Staffer was professionally trained and recovered quickly.

Karl nodded and he focused his gaze on the door with his usual wooden expression on his face.

“Don’t mind it. He is like that every time I see him” Sarah nudged Melissa and whispered. Karl amusedly spared the young girl a glance not expecting her to say something like that at all. The girl was usually just as cold as himself, this was the first time she took the initiative to take to a Staff. That was also probably because Melissa was the first of all his attendants to let Sarah in with them without asking him.

The elevator opened to reveal a hall way and the Staff continued to lead Karl and Sarah to a small room which served as his office.

“Give me a prediction update,” Karl said and gestured for Sarah to take a seat on the couch in the middle of the office.

“Exploration has…” Melissa started but Karl interrupted her.

“Sorry, an update on the needs of the Survival Area” he wanted to confirm what April told him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her but that he wanted to see for himself how important the mission was.

“The Survival Area’s needs for minerals and rocks has increased by forty percent since the last time you have been here. There a…”

“Melissa stop” Karl interrupted her again.

“Who prepared my brief?” He asked with a small sigh.

“Miss Sanders Sir” Melissa lowered her head as she answered.

Karl understood what April was trying to do, it seemed like she regretted asking him to come along with her so she wanted him to stay instead. Knowing that he would come over to the Association to check on things she had them omit the Survival Area’s need for food.

“How long are our food sources predicted to last?” Karl asked pointedly.

“Umm, well in three years we will have to start rationing and in five we will be looking at a starvation in these areas” Melissa swiped her hand across the left wall which was displaying a beautiful scene of the Other Side and the screen changed to reveal a map of the entire Survival Area. She swiped again and some areas on the edges of the map turned red.

Karl sat down on his office chair, turning it to face the display with a solemn expression. He hadn’t thought things were that serious. A knock interrupted his thoughts and alerted him to someone’s presence at the door.

“April” he called and turned to face her.

“You should not have come, Karl.” She sighed when she saw the expression on his face.

“Why did you change my brief?” Karl calmly changed the subject.

“Karl” April opened her mouth to say something but Karl kept his cold stare at her.

“Fine I’m sorry” she placed a hand on her hip and but into the side of the pointer finger of her other hand.

“I forget, we are grown ups now. You no longer need me to interfere with your life or help you with anything. I understand” she turned around and left the office leaving Karl confused as he watched her go.

“You should go after her” Melissa hesitated but she eventually couldn’t stop herself from saying.

“Yeah. Take care of her” Karl gestured at Sarah and went after April with a sigh

“It’s true isn’t it?” Sarah asked Melissa with wide open eyes full of curiosity. The one sided love story of April for Karl was something everyone in the Survival Area already knew and many reporters kept tabs on it alert for any changes. In fact, the entire Survival Area was very interested in how things would turn out. Fortunately, the world had grown past the times when fans took it upon themselves to decide what was best for their idol's relationships.

“Hey, you are too young to ask something like that” Melissa pinched Sarah’s cheeks while Sarah gave her a look that said ‘really?’.

“Did you know the kitchen makes roast fish for Karl every day?” Melissa changed the subject.

“Really?” Sarah’s interest was piqued.

“Mmmhmm” Melissa continued to entice her.

“But he doesn’t come here often, what happens to the fish?” Sarah asked curiously.