by Hao Yang
“We are waiting, six of us.” Sayilin said happily.
“Are you sure you want to get in?” He asked slowly.
“What do you think?” Titainein shouted.
Jason opened the door and soon all his teammates arrived at the bridge. When Lucis told them where Jason was heading to, his friends just couldn’t let him risk his life and sat there doing nothing. Looking at his friends, Jason knew he didn’t need to tell them how dangerous it was going to be. Right now they were waiting for his order.
“The bridge is very similar to the one we were trained on. Let’s get into positions. Vampire, you take navigation. Erikon, go to the dark engine room and wait for my order. Sayilin, pilot position. Idi, radar control. Titainein, communication. Orizy, weapon system” Jason said quickly.
Erikon headed to the engine. Others quickly got into their positions.
“Erikon, the door is open. Let me know when dark engine is ready.” Jason talked to Erikon using his watch.
“Copy that.”
“Navigation is online and ready.” Lucis said as he brought up the galaxy mapping interface.
“Set the course for planet Etitaeg.” Jason said hastily.
“Communication ready.”
“Piloting system is online.” Sayilin said.
“All defensive weapons are online. Authorization code is required for the use of offensive weapon and we don’t have one.” Orizy said.
“Noted.” Jason said.
“Jason, dark engine is online. We need to extract more dark energy.” Erikon called in on Jason’s watch.
“Radar is clear. It is still early.” Idi said easily.
“Sayilin, take her out.” Jason said.
The ceiling slowly opened. Cruiser General Klizan blasted off into the space like a silver bullet.
“This is weird.” Titainein said as the cruiser was extracting the dark energy from the surrounding.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“The flight control didn’t hail us. They always ask flight plan and other stuff.” Titainein said.
“In this case, we are lucky. What do we say if they ask?” Lucis said.
“Jason, you really surprise us sometime.” Titainein said happily.
“You mean this cruiser?” Jason asked.
“No, I meant you scored a date with a first species.” Titainein chuckled.
Others also smiled at Jason.
“Jason, dark engine is ready to roll.” Erikon called in.
“Lucis?” Jason asked.
“The course is set. 280 billion light years. Estimate time is four hours and 12 minutes. We are ready to enter dark matter passageway.” Lucis said.
“Sayilin, punch it.” Jason said decisively.
Sayilin pushed the throttle forward.
Under the hull, the black liquid from the dark engine started to circulate and it moved faster and faster. The cruiser started to blend into the background. When the circulating liquid reached maximum velocity, cruiser disappeared into the dark matter passageway.
Chapter 26
Mark was sitting on the ground of a prison cell. He had been awake for a while. He was expecting some Glycan to question him, but nobody showed up.
In another prison cell next to the one holding Mark, Kalan, Doisgy, Caytion and Zserie were looking at the two restrained Hylocan through a big window. Right now, those Hylocans were unconscious. Kalan had their eyes covered and their bodies fixed on surgical tables. There wasn’t even a fight. When those Hylocans reached a corridor inside the facility, Kalan ordered the attack and his men released nerve gas. The two Hylocans didn’t even have the chance to fire a bullet.
“Are you sure covering their eyes is enough?” Kalan said as he glanced over at Zserie.
“Yes, they are just so-so Hylocans. They have to see the target within 10 meters to read its mind.” Zserie said confidently.
“What if they have some self-destruction mechanism?” Doisgy asked.
“I don’t think so.” Zserie said.
“Did we find anything in the craft they arrived in?” Kalan asked.
“It was a short range space vessel. In order to get here, they must use something bigger. There might be a vessel waiting for them in the space.” Doisgy said.
“Anything in the outer space around this planet?” Kalan asked.
“My fleet is patrolling a radius of three light years. Nothing.”
“Increase it to 20 light years.” Kalan said.
“Right away.” Doisgy said and relayed the order to his fleet.
“I think we know how they found this planet. Securities just told me that they found a tracer on one of the eyeballs arrived today. It turned out the tracer was the same as the ones we found in that Human’s backpack.” Caytion said.
“This doesn’t make any sense. That Human was working for Hylocan? No way.” Zserie said.
“You think they are here for the girl?” Doisgy asked Kalan.
“I don’t know. But we can find it out. Wake them up. We got a lot of questions to ask.” Kalan said coldly.
“Right away.” Zserie said and called the scientists on the other side of the glass window.
Two scientists maneuvered a flying drone above those Hylocans and the drone shot beams of blue light on the heads of those Hylocans. After several seconds, the two Hylocans started to move. They soon realised that they were restrained. The scientists nodded at Zserie.
“You can start now.” Zserie whispered to Kalan.
“Where you two come from?” Kalan asked.
“Hahahahahahaha.” The two Hylocan laughed like crazy, their heads twitching and their bodies convulsing.
“Bang! Bang!” Their bodies exploded, throwing blood everywhere.
Zserie and Caytion were shocked. Doisgy threw up and fell on the ground.
“Just as I expected.” Kalan said with a big grin.
“What do you mean?” Zserie asked.
“Hylocan knows we don’t take prisoners. They must have some mechanism preparing for situation like this.” Kalan said casually.
“If you let us know early, we don’t need to wake them up and have this big mess.” Zserie said unhappily.
“The big eyeball is not ready. We can’t read their minds. If we don’t wake them up, do you have other suggestion?” Kalan asked.
“We could die.” Zserie said.
“Where is the human? Is he still alive?” Kalan asked impatiently.
“In the prison cell. He is alive.” Caytion said.
Doisgy finally got up from the ground. Several robots came in to clean his mess.
They had Mark taken to another cell which had huge glass window on all sides. Kalan, Doisgy, Zserie and Caytion were standing right in front of the glass window, but Mark couldn’t see what was going on outside.
“You should understand your situation. If you want to live, you better cooperate.” Caytion said coldly.
“I will tell you everything I know.” Mark said calmly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hylocans captured me and they forced me to come here.”
“You don’t work for Hylocans?”
“No, I was on my way to M13, the black market. They attacked my spacecraft and captured me.”
“Why they attacked your craft?”
“I have no clue. Bad luck, I guess.” Mark said innocently.
“How many Hylocans are there?”
“I saw three.”
“We have found several tracers in your backpack along with some other tools. Who do you work for?” Caytion asked.
“Nobody. I found those things and planned to trade them on M13.”
“Then how do you explain you are wearing a face transformer on this planet?”
“Like I said. I was forced to come here. They put it on me.” Mark said innocently.
Caytion looked at Kalan for suggestions.
“All right, take him away.” Kalan sighed.
Four Glycan soldiers took Mark
back to his cell.
“This human is no use at all.” Kalan said angrily.
“Should we kill him now?” Doisgy asked.
“No, not yet. I need to report this whole thing to General Klizan. Especially the Hylocan part” Kalan said reluctantly.
“Our intelligence show he is a mine worker on planet Latianium. He has two sons.” Zserie said.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Kalan murmured.
“Maybe just coincidence?” Doisgy said.
“There is no such thing as coincidence.” Zserie said.
“I will go to Sylareon. Keep me posted.” Kalan said and left the room.
As he was leaving the planet, he was wondering how to explain this to his father, General Klizan.
Chapter 27
Jason was checking a rifle in the weapon bay. There were twenty of them laying in front of him. He put down the rifle, picked up two short daggers and attached them onto his belt.
“We probably won’t need that many.” Titainein said as she walked into the bay.
“I just need to do something or I will go crazy.” Jason sighed.
“I know, every second is crawling on your skin.”
“Yea, you are in love with someone?” Jason asked.
“Something like that. Jason, is it too late to stop?”
“You know the answer to that question.”
“That’s what I think.” Titainein smiled reluctantly.
“Who is you lover?” Jason asked.
“I will keep it as a secret for now. I will let you know if it works out.” Titainein said, her face flushing red.
“OK. I will keep asking you until you tell me.” Jason joked.
“Jason, we will be there in five minutes.” Lucis called in on Jason’s watch.
“I will be in the bridge.” Jason said as he picked up two rifles on the table. He threw one to Titainein and they ran to the bridge.
Cruiser General Klizan just emerged from dark matter passageway. Those passageway ran like rivers in the universe, carrying dark matters from high density to low density. Glycans was the only species able to use those passageways for transportation purpose.
Planet Etitaeg was right ahead. Jason could see some black stuff was slowly swallowing the planet. As the cruiser got closer, he realized that those black thing was clouds. The rain season has begun.
“There is no other vessels near the planet. Where are the patrols and securities?” Idi said as she watched the radar.
“It means the selection is over.” Sayilin said in a heavy voice.
“Are we too late?” Lucis said as he turned to Jason.
“There are lots of movements in area under clouds, but none in other areas.” Orizy said.
“Scan the whole planet for family G communicator.” Jason said hastily.
“No problem. It will take thirty seconds.” Orizy said as he started the scan.
While Jason was staring at the screen without a blink, he took out the badge and called Gloria. He got nothing.
“We got one. We got one.” Orizy shouted excitedly. The spot was right on the edge of clouds.
“Any activity?” Jason asked nervously.
“No movement.” Orizy said.
Everyone was looking at Jason. He casted his eyes down for a second and said, “Land the cruiser on that spot.” Then he headed to the loading zone.
On the planet, Gloria was lying at the bottom of the hole, surrounded by other Glycans’ corpses. The back pain was gone, because she couldn’t feel anything below her chest. She looked at the sky covered by black clouds. She could smell the incoming rain. She was happy that Jason wasn’t here. Thunder was getting louder and the ground started to tremble.
Suddenly, she heard some engine humming. She listened more carefully, but only heard thunder. Several seconds later, she heard something else, very faint in the distance. Then it was getting louder and louder.
“Gloria! Gloria!”
Gloria couldn’t believe her ears. She shook her head to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She was so excited that she didn’t know how to respond.
“Gloria! Gloria!” Jason shouted.
“Jason! Jason! Jason!” Gloria screamed in joy.
The moment Jason heard his name, he jumped into the air. He quickly reached the hole, followed by Titainein and Erikon.
“Gloria!” Jason yelled as he jumped into the hole without hesitation. As soon as he regain the balance, he ran to her. Gloria broke into tears.
“Let’s get out of here.” Jason said hastily as he crouched down next to Gloria and lifted her from the ground.
“You are here! You are really here!” Gloria said emotionally as she fondled Jason’s face.
“That’s what happens if you don’t answer my call.” Jason smiled as he carried Gloria in his arms.
“I thought about you but I...” Gloria lost her words.
“I am here. I am with you.” Jason said firmly.
“Guys, I don’t want to be a dick, but we really don’t have time for this, if you see what I am seeing.” Lucis called in.
“Jason, Lucis is right. We really don’t have time.” Titainein said in panic as she looked at the distance.
In the places covered by rain, thousands of tentacles busted out of ground, extending into the air and grabbing everything in their ways.
Carrying Gloria in his arms, Jason quickly ran to the side of the hole and then carried her on his back. He could feel the ground beneath him was shaking. Jason took out his daggers, one on each hand. He stabbed both daggers in the wall and then pulled himself up. Jason used the daggers as climbing axes and quickly climbed up. Right at this moment, the rain poured down. Hundreds of tentacles were coming out, breaking the ground into pieces.
Erikon and Titainein were shooting at those close to Jason, but there were too many.
“Jason! Jason! You gotta hurry. They are crawling onto the hull.” Sayilin called in.
“Gloria, hang on! We are almost there!” Jason shouted, his arms hurting like hell, but he didn’t stopped for a second.
“Jason, they are getting close.” Gloria said nervously.
“We will be fine. Don’t let it go!” Jason said confidently.
When Jason got close to the edge of the hole, Erikon and Titainein reached below, grabbed Gloria and pulled her out.
“Go! Go!” Jason shouted and climbed out of the hole.
They carried Gloria and rushed to the cruiser, followed closely by Jason.
Thousands of tentacles were clenching the cruiser tightly, pulling the cruiser slowly into the ground. Jason blasted his rifle at those tentacles.
“Jason, there are too many. They are pulling us down!” Sayilin called in.
“Guys, listen to me. Wait my word, then full power, take off. Understand?” Jason said calmly as he watched Erikon and Titainein take Gloria into the cruiser.
“You need to get in!” Orizy yelled.
“We are not leaving without you!” Sayilin shouted.
“Jason, get in! Get in!” Idi screamed.
“Sayilin, do not take off! Do not take off!” Erikon shouted.
“I will get him.” Lucis said as he jumped out of his seat, followed by Orizy and Idi.
“We die together, is that what you want?” Jason shouted angrily.
Nobody said a thing. They could feel that the cruiser was sinking into the ground.
“Wait my word.” Jason said as he swiftly removed the magazine of the rifle. Then he threw it at the cruiser.
“Now!” Jason yelled as he shot at the falling magazine with the last round.
The magazine exploded, radiating harsh lights like a supernova. All tentacles retreated back into the ground in a blink. The cruiser blasted off to the sky. Jason looked at it with a big smile. The light only lasted for about one second and tentacles were coming out of the ground again.
In the bridge, Sayilin was turning the cruiser back and said, “We will pick him up. Find something to pull him in. We need…�
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A lightning bolt struck the cruiser, electrifying everyone on board. Then another one hit it again.
“Sayilin, pull up! Pull up!” Orizy shouted as he crawled to Sayilin.
The vessel was now speeding with her bow pointing at the ground.
Sayilin grabbed the control sticks and pulled it back.
Orizy reached the control panel and reversed the throttle. The cruiser made a sharp turn at just 100 meters above the ground, gliding right between two mountains and heading to another one. Orizy and Sayilin continued to pull it up.
“Come on!” Orizy yelled.
The cruiser went up at the last minute and barely avoided the head on collision. But when it slid over the mountain, the belly hit the peak. Sayilin and Orizy brought the cruiser to the outer space, on the orbit of Etitaeg. While they were catching their breath, Erikon called in, “This is engine! The black liquid is leaking. We are losing power! We are losing power!”
Sayilin and others in the bridge looked out of the window. Black liquid was seeping out from the bottom of the vessel, solidifying into thousands of particles.
“Stop the engine! Stop the engine!” Sayilin said quickly.
“I did. I did!” Erikon replied.
“Can we turned back to get Jason?” Lucis asked.
“No.” Erikon said.
“What we do then? Go outside to stop the leak?” Lucis asked.
“That will take hours. Jason can’t hold that long!” Erikon said angrily.
“Jason? Jason? Did you hear me? Did you hear me?” Idi called Jason using her watch.
“Idi, it is out of range.” Orizy said.
“Gloria might know what to do.” Titainein called in. She was now taking care of Gloria in the medical bay.
“Put her on the line.” Lucis said.
Titainein put her watch next to Gloria.
“Gloria. The black liquid from dark engine is leaking. We need to stop it. What do we do?” Lucis asked hastily.
“Find the circuit line connecting to the leak spots and cut it off. Turn off other things. We need to save power.” Gloria said weakly.
“How long will it take?” Sayilin asked impatiently.
“I don’t know. All of you find the leak. Now!” Gloria yelled. She took off her family badge and called Jason, but only found out her badge no longer worked.
