Hello my fellow Genesis-lovers! I hope you are all doing well. While I have been writing this book I have gotten a lot of support from a few people in particular and I'd like to recognize them: 

Thank you to Blue-eyed-Tiger for always commenting on my chapters and lifting my spirits with your support when I've been down on writing.

Thank you to LunaCinnamonplayz for commenting and also being amazing writers themselves and giving me something to read (check out their book, The Curse of 1987 - I love it!). 

Thank you to marjeanlevy for the continuous support and comments throughout the story. 

Anyone else who I didn't mention - thank you! It gives me so much joy to write this story and to have people read and comment on it is pretty insane! You all mean a lot to me. 

Enjoy the chapter! Have a great rest of your day! 

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After my date night with Camryn, the days start to blur together with each day better than the last. At work, Ashly says I am progressing very quickly with the drones. I've almost finished the technical portion of my learning (I have to learn how the drones work and so on) and I have even flown the drones a few times. It can be a complicated process, depending on the drone I'm flying. So far, my favorite drone is a small, agile model that can fit through tight spaces and even insert tiny cameras and microphones into its surroundings. Its controls are also the simplest I've encountered which is a bonus. Alongside my job, Camryn and I continue to go on dates together. I asked her to be my girlfriend two weeks ago (I nearly passed out at least 5 times) and now we are a happy couple. 

"How did you act so naturally around me?" I asked her on one of our dates. Camryn laughed. 

"Well, I am a girl so I am much less awkward," she teased. "And, even with Natlee around, I always suspected you liked me. So, I knew it was a matter of time before we got together."

"I was that transparent?" I asked incredulously. Camryn laughed and gave me a peck on the cheek. 

Besides things going well with Camryn, things were finally resolved with Drayk. I had gone to his house after work one day and we had talked everything out. At that point, I was already dating Camryn so there were no hard feelings. Camryn and I have even talked about going on a double date with Drayk and Natlee because there is a new movie coming out soon that we all want to see. 

Basically, everything was going great, except there was one thing bugging me: I had not talked to my mother in almost a month. I have had my job outside the dome for a bit now and I still have not used it to reach out to my mother. 

"Ashly?" I ask when I get to work. "Can I fly a drone today? I haven't flown one in a while and I don't want to get rusty." Ashly laughs. 

"You flew one two days ago, Kaze!" she exclaims. "But, nevertheless, you have been doing very well and there is not much work to be done today. You may fly your S760 drone later." S760 is the name for my favorite drone. 

I rush through all my work. I'm so excited to fly a drone again that Ashly has to remind me the drone's propellers are not part of its inner workings. Finally, I finish and I race to the drone quarters. My S760 is waiting in its cubicle, fully charged and ready. I smile broadly as I remove the drone and its controller. 

"Why hello," I say softly. "We meet again, speedy." I quickly check to make sure the drone is in working condition and I walk across the hallway to the aviary. There aren't many other scientists in the drone pilot box. Great. That means more space for me. I grab a headset and turn it, my controller, and the drone on. I put the headset on my head and immediately a screen materializes in front of me that allows me to see what the drone sees. I place my drone in its designated sender box which will permit the drone to fly out into the open air. An electronic female voice booms overhead. 

"New S760 drone entering airspace. Please exercise caution," it says. I toggle the joystick forward slightly and my drone slowly edges its way out of the box and into the air. I do a few laps around the airspace to warm up and then I start to pour on the speed. From the drone's perspective, the walls fly by and the pilot box is only a blip in the lap. My heartbeat starts to race and my breath quickens. I do a few flips and corkscrews and my stomach turns as I watch through the drone. Then, an idea pops into my head. What if I opened up the doors and flew outside? I could fly the drone to the petrified forest and talk with my mother through my headset. I know the command to activate the doors and I think Ashly trusts me enough to not break anything. Without thinking anymore, I decide to just do it. 

"This is Kaze Alio speaking," I say, hoping that Ashly authorized me to open the doors. "Begin protocol 17: activate outside doors." I wait for a moment and then exhale a little in disappointment. Then, I hear the familiar rumble. I jerk my drone's joystick to the side and dramatically slow its speed so I can hover near the left wall. The doors slowly draw themselves up until they are fully open and the world is completely in the palm of my hand. I grin to myself and slowly edge my drone outside of the aviary and into the outside. The petrified forest looms in the distance and I start flying towards it, but then I stop. What am I thinking? If I go to the forest now, I'll be in broad daylight where anyone could see. I could easily expose my mother. I could also easily be fired from my amazing job. Reluctantly, I pull back the joystick and the drone stops its path towards the forest. My initial exhilaration dwindling, I turn the drone back into the aviary and fly it into its sender box. I retrieve the drone from the box, close the doors, and shut everything down. As I walk back to the drone quarters, a resolve starts to settle over me. I need to visit my mother sooner than later. I've been putting it off longer than I should have. But, to visit her in secret, I'll need to go under the cover of the stars. I'll need to somehow sneak out to this facility at night and then leave it without any traces. In other words, I've got a lot of planning ahead of me. And I might need the help of some friends to do it.