by Israel Keats
He made his way through a maze of desks and low walls. At the far end was another guarded door.
I need to look like I know what I’m doing.
He turned around again and saw more egg-shaped devices dangling from hooks.
Key rack, he figured. He took one. Two birds, one stone. Now that guard knows why I’m here, plus I have another key. It probably works on more doors in this area than the other one.
The guard said something that sounded like an order or a gruff question. Lobo pretended not to hear and marched back out of the office, resisting the urge to look back. He didn’t want to raise any suspicions.
Outside the office area, a couple of armored Orionans pulled up to the gate in a vehicle. It was like a miniature truck, wide enough for a second alien to ride shotgun. That wasn’t just an expression—this alien was armed with a blaster.
Keep moving. Look busy, Lobo reminded himself. He strode forward until he was behind the truck. A large orange crate sat on the rear of the vehicle. It was the same shape as the crates in the storage area, but much bigger, with holes along the top.
Air holes, he realized. Is Jalea in that crate?
The gate opened, and the guards stood aside to let the truck through.
Here’s my chance to get past those guards . . .
He leaped on the back of the truck and hid behind the crate. The truck cruised through the gate and onto a ramp. It was a long corkscrew-style ramp, like the hub, but with lower ceilings and tighter turns. In the middle was a wide post. The outside wall was lined with doors.
Prison cells, he realized. That’s why this place is so tightly guarded.
He peered into the holes of the crate, half-expecting to see Jalea. Instead he saw something that looked a little like a human but had tusks and matted hair all over its body. It was asleep, but stirring.
All right. Guess they aren’t just kidnapping humans. Other life forms are also in trouble. Seems like these guys are making a lot of enemies—could come in handy if we needed some allies.
He leaped off the back of the truck and hid behind the center post. The truck continued on. He followed, staying far enough back to remain hidden. The ramp coiled around ten times, containing about sixty cells.
The truck stopped at the bottom and the alien soldiers jumped off. The driver used a gravity wand to lift the crate from the truck bed, set it on the ground, and then move it along a few feet at a time.
The other soldier watched, holding his blaster ready. In case that creature breaks out, Lobo guessed. Looks like they’ll be busy for a few minutes.
He started up the ramp, whispering at every door, “Anyone in there from Earth?” Creatures grunted, hissed, and growled in reply.
Finally he heard a human respond. “Solo_Lobo? Is that you?”
He didn’t quite recognize the voice, but when he opened the door with his key from the guard station, he saw Chen looking at him with wide eyes. Lobo remembered he was wearing the armor of an Orionan guard. He took off his helmet.
“Relax, it’s me. Jalea is safe too,” he said. At least I think she is. “Do you know where the others are?”
“No.” Chen shook his head. “But we have to find them!”
“Let’s check the other cells.” At last, someone who isn’t throwing everyone else under the bus.
They found Dagney a few doors down. “You’re alive!” she said to Lobo.
“For now,” he said. “Come on!”
The three of them continued. They were nearly to the top when Lobo heard the whistling motor of the truck coming back up the ramp.
“Hide!” He unlocked a door and herded his crewmates into the cell.
“We don’t know what’s in here!” Chen protested.
“We do know what’s back there—the bad guys.” He closed the door almost entirely, leaving a thin crack for him to peer through. The truck cruised by without stopping.
Dagney tugged on his sleeve. “We have to get out of here,” she whispered.
“Wait.” The truck had paused at the top of the ramp. The Orionans were waiting for the gate to open.
“Come on!” Chen hissed.
Lobo looked back into the cell and saw a strange creature. It was shapeless and inky black, with hundreds of eyes floating in its blobby body. Countless tendrils whipped around as it crept toward them.
I’d rather take my chances with the Orionans, he thought. They bolted out of the room, and he cringed as the door slammed behind them.
The gate was open, but the truck hadn’t gone out yet. One of the Orionans made a noise, and the truck started to turn around.
Chapter 15
“Run!” Lobo shouted, starting down the ramp. Dagney and Chen kept up with him, the three of them bumping elbows as they ran. The truck followed, keeping a slow pace because of the tight turns of the ramp. They managed to stay just far enough ahead to avoid coming into view of the Orionans.
But we’ll run out of ramp pretty soon.
They reached the bottom. The Orionans were almost in view behind them.
“Stand back!” Lobo shouted. He waved his key at the last door and threw it open. The hairy, toothy creature from before charged out. It was at least eight feet tall, with long, sharp tusks. It had the large, floppy ears of an elephant, a short trunk, and the powerful body of a gorilla.
Half Bigfoot, half woolly mammoth, Lobo thought. All angry.
The creature looked at Dagney and Chen cowering against the wall. Then it saw the Orionan guards. It let out a big, bellowing trumpet noise and charged toward them, obviously considering them to be the greater enemy. The guards couldn’t turn the truck around quickly enough, so they leaped off and ran back up the ramp. The elephant-headed creature stomped after them.
“Glad that thing is on our side,” Dagney said with a sigh.
“For now,” Chen added.
Then they heard a human groan from behind the second-to-last door. Lobo unlocked the door to find Boris hunched against the back wall of cell. Dagney and Chen rushed in to help him up.
“I don’t think he can walk,” Chen said.
“Take him to the truck,” Lobo instructed. The three of them helped Boris to the truck, shoving the empty crate off the back and lowering him onto it. Chen crouched and held him.
Lobo heard chaos at the top of the ramp: growls and shrieks and stampeding feet. The creature they had released was getting its revenge.
But what about the others in these cells? Lobo wondered. Are any of them actually criminals? Or did they just get captured, like we did?
“The lever turns the truck left and right,” he told Dagney. “The left button is the brake and reverse; the right button is the accelerator. Drive to the top of the ramp.”
“Sure thing,” she said. She stood in the driver’s perch and stabbed at the accelerator button. The truck lurched forward, jerking everyone in it. Boris groaned and Dagney looked back at him sheepishly. She pressed the accelerator again, this time lightly resting her finger on it. The truck started to cruise.
Lobo ran alongside it, waving his key at every door. One after the other, they clicked open. Prisoners poured out, some running, some crawling, some oozing.
The gate at the top was still open, while several Orionans lay crumpled on the floor. Sirens wailed and lights flashed. Lobo unlocked the last door and leaped into the passenger side of the truck.
“Brake!” he shouted as they reached the guard station. Dagney found the brake button and brought the truck to a stop with a jolt. Lobo leaped off, grabbed a blaster from the counter, and leaped back on.
“That way! Go!” he shouted, pointing to the exit. Dagney turned the truck and headed for the exit. “Do you want to drive or defend?”
“Drive!” she answered. “I’m getting the hang of this thing.”
“Good, because the next part is pretty wild!”
Lobo looked back once and caught a final glimpse of the guard station. Something like a chicken crossed with a dinosaur was on the counter. A c
ow-sized hedgehog was crushing the door. The many-eyed black blob was oozing quietly along, absorbing everything into its body.
The sirens and lights continued in the hallway. Guard bots and armed aliens appeared on the edges, firing lasers at them. Lobo took them out with his blaster while Dagney steered. The stars blurred by as she passed the first set of windows. She took the twists and turns easily, even in the heavy truck. She went faster and faster as the hallway straightened out.
“You’re good at this!” Lobo shouted.
“I am a professional pilot!” She slowed as they came to passageway he called The Squid.
“That one,” he said, pointing out the path Spec said led to the control room and escape port. She sped up again.
Fifth achievement unlocked: Rescued team
Chapter 16
He saw Jalea up ahead, waving. She had found a blaster and was guarding the hall. Dagney slowed down.
“There’s a docking station at the end!” Jalea shouted. “We took care of the guards and are awaiting rescue.”
“What does she mean by we?” Dagney asked. “The rest of our crew is right here.”
“We made a friend,” Lobo explained.
They cruised to the docking bay, a hexagonal tunnel covered with glowing green lights and dark walls. Spec was in the control room in the bay, talking into the radio. Lobo heard human voices report back, as clear as if it came from the next room.
“We’re nearly there,” said a man’s voice over the speaker. “We’ve identified a blind spot in the alien station’s detection system and are traveling through it now.”
“Suit up!” Jalea shouted. She pointed her blaster at a rack of space suits designed for Orionan bodies. “Be ready to board ship.”
“Those will never fit us,” Chen said, frowning.
“They might,” Lobo told him. “Try it.”
Lobo took off his armor and grabbed one of the alien suits. He dragged the long, skinny pants over his legs. The fabric both shrank and stretched to fit his body. He took Jalea’s blaster and his gravity wand and guarded the room so the others could get suited up.
As he waited, he glanced out the portal window and saw stars, planets, and the string of Orionan space stations. There’s so much to discover out there.
He heard a noise and looked back to the hallway. A mob of robots with laser blasters was coming straight for them.
Should’ve known we weren’t quite done yet.
Lobo slammed the door to the control room closed so the others would be safe. Then he aimed his blaster. He easily took out the first few waves of bots. He’d played a lot of shooter games in his life. The following waves of robots started moving and firing faster. He kept moving and firing with his laser, relieved that Spec was still in the control room and couldn’t see him taking out bots. But these robots didn’t seem as real or advanced as she was. These were just targets.
In the next wave, Orionans joined the mass of bots. They sped down the hall in trucks, firing lasers. Lobo took out the lights so they couldn’t disanimate him. Debris rained down and the lights dimmed.
He switched to the gravity wand and used it to send the trucks rolling toward the bots. It was harder than using the blaster, but by rolling the trucks across the hallway he was able to knock out a row of bots all at once.
At last a new robot appeared, big enough to fill the hallway. Dozens of smaller bots poured out of it. Lobo had to clear out the mini-bots with his blaster, then quickly switch to the gravity wand and throw the giant robot over. After five or six rolls, the machine exploded. More debris rained down from the ceiling.
“The escape ship is here!” Jalea shouted.
That was the final boss, Lobo realized. Now the game ends. I wish there was one more phase. Or better yet, one more mission.
He turned to see the Earth ship secured to the portal’s hatch. Chen, Boris, and Dagney lowered themselves into the ship. Jalea waved him on.
But he hesitated to follow. “I don’t want to go.”
“What do you mean?” she shouted.
“There’s more to do.”
Jalea’s face changed. Literally. It transformed. He realized he was now talking to the Game Runner.
“You’ve almost won the game,” the Game Runner said.
“I might have won, but I haven’t finished. I want to complete all the missions. Plus, I want to see it all.” He gestured out the window.
“If you don’t leave now, you’ll be trapped in the game forever.”
“Forever,” Lobo echoed. But I’ve finally found a real adventure here. I never feel like that in real life.
“Maybe I’ll find my own way out,” he added. “I’ll find a ship and figure out how to fly it, then search the farthest corners of the game. If I ever want to come back, I’ll figure out a way.”
“Think about your decision carefully,” the Game Runner said.
Lobo squared his shoulders. “You know what? I’m not just here for your convenience. Hear that, L33T C0RP?” He lifted his head, shouting to more than just the Game Runner. “I’m not finished here, and you can’t just kick me out.”
I want to see this through, he thought, in a way I’ve never wanted to finish something before.
“Spec,” he said, turning to her, “Do you want to come with me? We can rescue the others first, and then there’s so much more to do. We can help defend Earth’s space station against the Orionan invasion, travel the galaxy to find allies . . .”
The robot aimed her telescoping eye at the escape ship, then at him. He could almost hear the motor of her brain as she thought it over. “I don’t know, Lobo.”
Maybe this was crazy. He was choosing to stay inside a video game that he didn’t know if he’d be able to leave again. He was asking a non-player character to go against its program.
But she seems like more than a non-player character, he admitted to himself. And wait—did she just call me by a nickname? Maybe she’s not just an ordinary, programmed NPC . . .
Still. Was he making the right choice?
Then Spec floated over to him, and he could feel the relief in his chest. He knew what he wanted her answer to be.
“Get us to a ship,” Spec said. “We have an invasion to prepare for.”
About the Author
Israel Keats was born and raised in North Dakota and now lives in Minneapolis. He is fond of dogs and national parks. His favorite games include Portal, The Legend of Zelda series, and Plants vs. Zombies. He also loves Pokémon GO, since it’s the first game he can play while walking his dog.
