by Hao Yang
“I didn’t think Jason was dead. You liar.” Idi complained.
“You shouldn’t do that. It’s just a game. I mean, yes, we won. But what if you died?” Orizy said in a worried tone.
“Some other trainees wanted us to relay their concerns and……”
“And I checked them out. There is no beautiful girls.” Erikon interrupted Sayilin.
“Erikon, that is not what I wanted to say.” Sayilin said.
“It’s OK.” Erikon nodded as if he knew it all.
“Man, I gotta say. You are celebrity now. Every second species knows your name.” Lucis said.
“I am quite sure some of first species know Jason’s name as well.” Titainein said happily.
“Now we will go to the first species game.” Idi said sadly.
“It won’t be easy. That is for sure.” Sayilin said seriously.
“You guys found anything about their games?” Jason asked.
“Yes, they didn’t really care about the ball. They actually count how many stand on their feet at the end of the game. If one side had more people, it wins. Very straightforward. In our game, we all use the same armor suits and guns. In their case, every species use their own weapons. In our game, if you shot someone on the helmet, even if he isn’t injured, drones will take that person out. In their game, they can keep fighting as long as they are not dead.” Lucis said coldly.
“A lot of first species get killed every year.” Idi said sadly.
“They treat it more like an arena to show their power and strength.” Sayilin said.
“Can we quit now?” Idi said as she looked around at others
Nobody said a word. They all looked at Jason.
“I want to give it a try. See how far we can go. I would rather die trying.” Jason said sincerely.
“I somehow know you will say that.” Erikon said excitedly.
“Well, at least When I get older, I can tell my kids I fight with first species.” Sayilin joked.
“I will be the first Tizuee fighting with first species since the end of UWII.” Titainein said proudly.
Others nodded and smiled.
“By the way, you need this.” Erikon said as he handed Jason the badge.
“Thanks.”
“I am quite sure Gloria watched the game, because it flashed all the time.” Erikon said.
“Did you tell her I am alright?” Jason asked hastily.
“Yes, I did. But you better call her.” Erikon said jealously.
“That is the problem of falling in love. You know what you are doing but you just can’t stop it, even if you know where it will lead to.” Titainein said calmly.
“That is deep.” Orizy looked confused.
“That is very deep.” Erikon had no idea what Titainein was talking about.
“OK, guys, let’s leave Jason for now. He needs to make the call.” Titainein said as she gave Jason a sad smile.
“Thanks, guys.” Jason said. Then he immediately called Gloria. Gloria said she would go to see him tonight.
Chapter 60
Jason sat on the edge of the bed, looking out of the window. He knew exactly what Titainein meant. There was no future for Gloria and him. However, he was just one of those people who didn’t want to give it up before the game was over. Jason wished his father could be here to give him some advice. However, he didn’t even know where his father was now.
Just at this moment, Gloria scurried into the room and gave Jason a big hug. She kissed on his cheek and said, “Jason, you asshole.”
“Actually……”
Gloria stuffed his mouth with her lips. They kissed like crazy. After a long while, they had to break off in order for each other to catch their breath.
“I love you. I love you. I love you.” Gloria said excitedly, pressing herself on Jason tightly.
“I love you, too.” Jason said as he pushed Gloria on the bed.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Gloria shouted.
“I am so sorry. I don’t know what I am doing. It’s just…I am so carried away.” Jason said hastily in embarrassment.
“I need to take my uniform off. It tangles my hair.” Gloria said quickly as she sat up on the bed. She took off her uniform and threw it aside. Now she was wearing a white tank, her smooth skin shining, her medium size breast pushing the tank upwards.
Jason gazed at her partially exposed breasts and cupped one of them. It was so soft and it smelled so good.
“Your turn.” Gloria said as she enjoyed Jason fondling her body.
“Alright.” Jason swiftly took off his uniform and the shirt, showing Gloria his solid chest and shoulders.
Gloria noticed a scar on Jason’s left chest. She touched the scar and asked, “Is this the one from Klizan’s blade?”
“Yes.”
“It was a miracle you didn’t die.” Gloria said seriously.
“I guess I was given a chance to see you again. This is the power of love.” Jason said happily.
“Yes and I will always be here for you.” Gloria said as she kissed Jason.
Jason grappled the edge of the white tank and slowly pulled it up. Gloria obediently lifted her arms in the air to let the tank fly away from her shoulders. Even though Gloria’s breast was not as big as those of Lisania, they were firm and perky. The pink nipples were lovely and cute like fresh cherries. Jason squeezed one cherry between his thumb and index finger, watching Gloria screaming in jest.
Just at this moment, he heard something from the doorway. He peeked over Gloria’s shoulder and saw Klaycon stretching his head out. For a second, Jason was worried that Klaycon would bust into the room. But Klaycon just stood there, staring at Jason angrily.
“Ah, aaaah.” Gloria kept her eyes closed and screamed happily.
Jason tilted Gloria so that Klaycon could see him grabbing her tits. Then he kissed Gloria on her lips while staring at Klaycon. Jason could clearly see Klaycon’s twisted face and bulging eyes. Klaycon was gnawing on his lower lips and holding his fists tight, his body trembling in anger.
Jason felt so successful and rewarded. He squeezed Gloria’s breasts harder and grabbed her ass. Gloria covered her mouth and screamed like crazy. Suddenly Klaycon disappeared from the doorway.
“BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!” The fire alarm was echoing in the entire medical complex, accompanied by flashing red lights.
Gloria was scared. She quickly put on all her clothes and shouted, “It’s fire. Hurry!”
“Alright.” Jason said easily as he slowly put on his clothes. He knew who pulled the alarm.
“Come on!” Gloria yelled and dragged Jason out of the room.
In the hallway, dozens of second class species were running to the exit. Gloria and Jason blended into the flow. After they reached the safe zone, Gloria left Jason and headed back.
Later they found out someone pulled the fire alarm near Jason’s room. Jason didn’t say a thing. He knew what had to be done.
Chapter 61
Mark couldn’t fall asleep. For the past days, he kept telling himself to stay out of it, so he made no attempt to go to that cave again. He missed his sons, Jason and John. He hadn’t contacted Jason since he got back to Earth. Thinking about this, Mark let out a long sigh. He put on his clothes and headed out. After climbing two stories, he reached the ground level and saw Pennington sitting in a booth. He walked to Pennington and acknowledged him.
“Can’t sleep, huh?” Pennington said.
“Not tired.”
“Here, try this.” Pennington said as he passed Mark a small pocket hip flask.
Mark opened the cap, smelled it and took a sip. It tasted like whiskey mixed with chilies.
“What is it?” Mark asked, feeling his throat burning.
“It was a mixture of chilies and the stuff we use to degrease machines.” Pennington said with a big smile.
“I could tell there are definitely chilies.” Mark chuckled and took another sip.
“I made it myself.” Pennington said proud
ly.
“I see. By the way, you know, how long colonel has been here?” Mark asked cautiously.
“Several years. Why?”
“I think he probably found that cave long ago.”
“Man, stay out of it. I know you are always the curious one. You want to keep your job, right?” Pennington said seriously.
“Of course. I won’t do anything stupid.” Mark said easily.
“Beep. Beep. Beep.” Pennington’s communicator was ringing.
Pennington said something to the communicator and said, “I need to take a look. See you later.”
Mark took several deep breath and headed back to the room. When he was walking in the tunnel, he saw Salmon walking at the end. It was close to midnight. Mark was wondering where he was going at this late, so he followed Salmon to the very bottom level of the underground structure. Then Salmon just disappeared. Mark checked the tunnel Pennington showed him last time, but he didn’t find Salmon. He decided to wait until Salmon came back. After several hours, Mark saw a ladder descending from the ceiling. Salmon climbed down the ladder and set the ladder against a wall and then left. Mark never thought the entrance was on the ceiling. He put the ladder back and climbed up into the cleft which opened to another tunnel. It led to a cliff and there was a small hover.
Mark hesitated for several seconds, but he couldn’t fight against his curiosity. He climbed into the cockpit, started the engine and drove the hover into the cave, heading to the bottom. After 10 minutes, Mark finally saw the bottom. There were hundreds of buildings scattering in an area the size of 30 football fields. Mark parked the hover and came closer to those buildings. Most of them were two to three floor high and had biohazard signs on the doors. Dozens of robots were patrolling the perimeter.
Mark waited until patrolling robots left, and then scooted to the nearest building, a warehouse like structure. He noticed the door had a slot right in the middle of it. He knew Glycan had that kind of design for inserting crystal.
Patrolling robots came back. Mark climbed onto the roof of the building. As Mark gazed at those robots more carefully, he could tell they were Human made.
“Human and Glycan work together?” Mark murmured to himself. He got into the building from vent on the roof. Inside the building, there was a blood red field filled with flowers growing on rocks. They were two to three centimeters high with red petals, leaves and stems. Mark never saw anything like this.
Just at this moment, a door opened on the ground. A robot rolled in and scanned the whole field with rays of red light. Then it carefully picked up three black flowers and the rocks attached to them. It held them in its chest as it headed back to the door. Mark followed the robot to another huge warehouse. The robot put the flowers in a field filled with black flowers. Mark waited until the robot left, and then checked those black flowers. They were as hard as steel with a needle like stigma and a tiny spherical black stone on top of it. Mark remembered he traded this kind of stones for crystals before.
Later, Mark checked several other buildings. In one of them, he saw hundreds of tubes packed in order and each of them had a Glycan fetus inside. In another building, there were hundreds of tubes holding adult Glycan bodies. Now Mark had an idea what was going on. But he didn’t understand how Salmon got involved in this. He quickly returned to the hover and flew it back to where he found it.
When he just jumped out of the cockpit, he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. He lost his balance and slumped on the ground. Salmon walked out of the shadow and asked, “Mark?”
“Yea, it’s me.” Mark replied in pain.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, I am just about to ask you the same question.”
“Man, you are lucky. I didn’t aim at your head.” Salmon chuckled.
“I thought you missed.” Mark said and pressed on the bloody wound.
“Let’s talk later. We need to take care of that bleeding first.” Salmon said as he picked up Mark.
They went to Salmon’s room. Salmon put a pad on Mark’s wound and said, “OK, Let’s start with your questions first.”
“You are in charge of that base?”
“I certainly hope so. I am just a guy running the security.”
“This whole drug dealer thing is just a cover?”
“No. We are doing what we are doing. Only several people knew that base.”
“You are making Glycans for what?”
“I don’t know. The base you saw down there was only several years old. I was transferred to here right after it was operational.” Salmon said calmly.
“We built that place?”
“Yes, but it seems we got some help from Glycan.”
“That was what I thought. Why they picked us? I mean Human.”
“I don’t know. Probably something special about that cave.”
“Maybe because of those black stones.”
“Man, you really spend a lot of time thinking, don’t you? I am just running the security.” Salmon said in a relaxed tone.
“I guess. Some Glycans did try to escape from time to time, but you stopped them before they could even reach the surface.”
“You are right about that.” Salmon said seriously.
“Does the drug dealer know all this?”
“Nah, he knows we are doing something down there, but he doesn’t know as much as you do now.”
“I am surprised he still let you stay here.”
“I asked nicely.” Salmon said as he gave Mark an evil smile.
Mark paused for several second and asked, “So what are we going to do now?”
“Two of my guys got killed in the last drug deal. I need to recruit some flesh blood. You are the smart one. I knew it. I planned to ask you to join me and I am still considering it.”
“I should be paid more, right? Because I will be doing two jobs.” Mark smiled.
“No, not really. But occasionally, we can get some good stuff like this.” Salmon said as he hauled out a whiskey from a draw.
“That will work.” Mark said happily.
Salmon took out two cups from another draw and poured some wine into them. He passed one to Mark and said, “For Human.”
“For Human.”
They both laughed and emptied the cups.
Chapter 62
There was still a week till the game against the first class species.
Jason planned to take Lisania to Earth this weekend. He knew it was better to do this before the game.
It was four in the morning. Jason got up quietly. He quickly put on his casual clothes and slang a backpack over his shoulder.
“You sure, you don’t want me to go with you?” Erikon asked sincerely.
“This time, I will leave you guys out of this. Besides, you guys have done your parts.” Jason said as he pointed at the backpack.
Erikon knew Jason was talking about the money.
Jason headed out and went to picked up Lisania. Then they rushed to the cargo vessel hangar. He had bribed a pilot and made a deal. The pilot would make a stop at a public transportation station so that Jason and Lisania could get off. Later he would came back at the same station to pick up Jason.
After hiding several hours in the cargo vessel, Jason and Lisania successfully arrived at the station and went aboard on a vessel heading to the earth. They sat next to each other in the passenger bay. Lisania was wearing the bandage on her eyes and a head cover. Including Jason and Gloria, there were only four passengers.
Three hours later, Jason saw Earth out of the window. It had been four years since last time he saw earth. He remembered it was the day he left the earth and went to the Human preselection institute.
“Why don’t you just dump me somewhere?” Lisania asked suddenly.
Jason paused for several seconds and said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
“I thought you would make up some romantic reason.” Lisania smiled reluctantly.
“Because you are beautiful esp
ecially your body, I couldn’t just dump you somewhere.” Jason said as he looked at her ample breast.
“Do you love me?” Lisania asked directly.
Jason stared at Lisania in surprise and asked, “Why you suddenly ask something like this?”
“Do you love me?”
“I like you, but I don’t love you.” Jason said firmly.
“That is good enough. When I have my eyes back, you might change your mind.” Lisania said happily.
Jason lost his words.
The vessel was decelerating to enter Earth’s atmosphere. Half an hour later, the vessel landed on a platform near where used to be the Great Lakes. Now water was gone and were replaced with mountains of garbage. The wind was bleak and strong, mixed with sand, dust and the smell of rotten fish. Jason and Lisania clamped their noses as they stepped out of the vessel. But the smell was still too strong for Lisania and she threw up. They quickly rushed into a bus station.
After four hours, they got on a hover bus and headed north. It was a five hour ride. Then they finally arrived at the fringe of a slum valley before sunset. Hundreds of thousands of buildings thronged the valley. They were two to three floors high with broken walls and roofs. Walking in the narrow alleys, Jason was happy that Gloria didn’t have to see this. Gloria was holding Jason’s hand and stumbling right after him. She had gotten used to the smell after threw up everything.
When it was close to late night, they finally reached the destination, a battered two floor house with broken windows and a tilted wall. The place belonged to Jason’s grandmother-in-law. Jason couldn’t even recall when he visited here last time.
There was no light in the house. Jason stepped in front of the door, switched on his flashlight and peeked inside through the cracks on the door. He didn’t even know whether his grandmother-in-law was still alive or not. He didn’t call her beforehand, because he didn’t even knew how to contact her.
“Knock, knock, knock.” Jason knocked on the door and listened carefully.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“Jason, there are two people walking in this direction.” Lisania whispered into Jason’s ear.
