by Hao Yang
“Thank you, guys. Oh, by the way, this is my father.” Jason said as he pointed the flashlight at his father Mark.
“Let’s do the introduction later, we need to get out of here first!” Mark said hastily.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” A series of explosions rocked the prison.
“I don’t think that was our bombs.” Erikon said.
“No, we only set off the power plant and the control center.” Titainein said in a worried tone.
“Titainein, Oepttese is attacking the prison.” Orizy called in.
“Copy that. Listen, we got Jason. We are heading to the surface.” Titainein said quickly.
“Let’s go! Now!” Mark shouted.
Jason carried Gloria on his back and ran out of the room with others. They reached the end of the corridor and Mark blasted through a door which opened to a stairwell. They quickly got in there, heading to the surface level. Several minutes later, they heard screams and heavy tread of footsteps below. Thousands of guards and prisoners were thonging on stairs. It seemed they were both running from something.
“What is it?” Gloria asked curiously.
Jason pointed the flashlight down and saw waves of dog like creatures flooding the stairwell.
“That is Qityea. We got to go. Faster.” Mark shouted.
“Oh, my.” Lucis sighed.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Sayilin said in panic.
The crowd of guards and prisoners were quickly closing to them. Jason suddenly stopped, kicked open a door and shouted: “This way! This way!”
“What, Jason?” Eirkon asked in confusion.
“Right, that is a good idea.” Titainein said as she ran to the door.
“Hurry!” Lucis shouted and followed right behind Titainein.
They all left the stairwell and locked the door behind them. Mark, Lucis, Erikon and Sayilin pressed their bodies against the door.
Barks, yelps and blaring screams came first. Then it felt like a train passed right over the door. Mark and the other three held tight on the door and could barely keep it closed. After some 20 seconds, it started to quiet down.
Mark, Lucis, Erikon and Sayilin slumped on the floor. They all heaved a sigh of relief.
“We need to wait here for a second.” Jason said tiredly. He slowly put Gloria on the floor and checked the gunshot on her shoulder. It was bad and Jason couldn’t do much except temporarily stop the bleeding. Gloria was fading away bit by bit.
“We can’t hide here.” Lucis said anxiously.
“Even if we reached the surface, Oepttese will be waiting there.” Sayilin said in a worried tone.
“Orizy won’t be able to pick us up in front of Oepttese.” Titainein sighed.
“Gloria, how long will take a Glycan combat vessel at Sylareon to get here?” Jason asked hastily.
“Less than 30 minutes. Why?” Gloria said in confusion.
“Gloria, we have to get you to a doctor right away. You need to call Klaycon now.” Jason said calmly. He really hoped he had another option.
“Jason, Klaycon will kill you or at least send you back to Listan.” Gloria said listlessly.
“Are you sure this Klaycon won’t kill us?” Mark asked as he looked around at others.
“We are in the same training center. We should be alright.” Idi said innocently.
“I don’t know about that.” Sayilin sighed.
“I will take Gloria with me. The rest of you surrender to Oepttese. Dad, you take care of them.” Jason said decisively.
“You are my son, I won’t leave you.” Mark said firmly.
“I will stay too.” Erikon said emotionally.
Others nodded at Jason.
“Sorry, I hope I have better ideas.” Jason murmured.
“But some Glycan fleets may be far from here.” Lucis said in a questioning voice.
“And some might be near to us. Oepttese is not stupid enough to shoot down a Glycan combat vessel.” Titainein said.
Just at this moment, Gloria fell into coma and slumped on the floor.
“Gloria, Gloria!” Jason shouted desperately. He held Gloria in his arms and said, “Titainein, call Klaycon now!”
Titainein used Gloria’s badge and made the call.
Chapter 149
When Klaycon heard Gloria was in danger, he immediately woke up Nissen and Zier and asked them to find more hands to pilot a combat cruiser.
Within 10 minutes, Klaycon along with a dozen Glycans boarded one of the three Glycan combat cruiser parked in the training center hangar. The cruiser blasted off into the space, heading to planet Weithei.
At the same time on Weithei, Jason and his friends were climbing up in one of the elevator shafts. With Gloria on his back, Jason lagged behind a little bit. They soon reached the top of the shaft. They could hear barks, yelps and sniffs outside the elevator door.
“How do we get out of here? There are Qityea outside. Probably hundreds.” Sayilin said hastily.
“Erikon, Lucis, you two, climb to the door and stand at its sides. Others stay on this wall, facing the door. When Eirkon and Lucis open the door, we fire.” Jason said as he pointed the flashlight at the elevator door.
They quickly got into positions. Erikon and Lucis were ready. Others aimed their rifles at the door.
“Now!” Jason shouted.
Erikon and Lucis pulled the door open slowly. As Qityeas flooded in and plunged into the elevator shaft, Jason and others blasted their guns like crazy. It was like a waterfall of dead Qityea and it lasted for about a minute. Then Jason and others got out of the elevator shaft. They were now on the surface level.
Oepttese were still pouring Qityea from several huge vessels to the nearby buildings. Hundreds of soldiers were standing by on guard. Some 10 enormous beltfish like combat vessels were circling in the air right above the prison.
“Gloria, Gloria, where are you?” Klaycon called in on Gloria’s badge.
“Klaycon, Gloria is in one of the surface buildings at the south side of the prison.” Titainein said hastily.
“I will take the vessel to the south. Get out of there when you see the vessel.” Klaycon said angrily.
Within seconds, a silver Glycan combat cruiser appeared in the sky, followed by Oepttese’s combat vessels.
Jason carried Gloria in his arms and ran out with others. Oepttese soldiers swiftly surrounded them. They dropped their rifles and watched the Glycan combat cruiser touch down at close range.
Klaycon jumped out of the cruiser before the loading dock fully opened. He dashed to Gloria, followed by Zier, Nissen and other five Glycans.
Jason was holding Gloria in his arms. He didn’t know what to say. However, Klaycon didn’t even look at Jason. He slowly took over Gloria and carried her to the cruiser. Jason didn’t want to leave her like this. He tried to catch up with Klaycon, but an Oepttese and a Glycan stopped him. Mark ran to Jason and dragged him back. Jason turned to Titainein and said, “Give me the badge. I will call Klaycon!”
“He won’t listen.” Titainein said as she handed Jason the badge.
Jason made the call anyway.
Klaycon ignored the call and brought Gloria to the medical bay and put her in the healing chamber. Beams of blue light scanned her body. Zier was checking the physical readings.
“How is she?” Klaycon asked nervously.
“She is very weak. Lost a lot of blood. But she will be fine. We are just in time.” Zier said coldly.
Klaycon turned to Nissen and said, “Take off right away!”
“What about those second class species?” Nissen asked cautiously.
“Kill them!” Klaycon snarled.
“Klaycon, I won’t suggest that.” Zier said seriously.
“Shut the fuck up.” Klaycon yelled.
“With all respect, Klaycon, I know you are angry. But Gloria ends up like this is not their fault. She asks for it.” Zier said calmly.
Klaycon paused for several seconds and said, “I know who did it.” Th
en he darted out of the compartment.
Jason and others were waiting there quietly. Every second was crawling slowly on their skins. None of them knew what would happen. While Jason was wondering how Gloria was, he saw Klaycon come out of the cruiser and head towards him.
Klaycon took over a rifle from a Glycan.
“Bang!” He shot Jason’s right leg. Jason fell on his knees.
“Jason!”
“Jason!”
“Jason!” Titainein and others shouted. Mark went to pick Jason up, but a Glycan knocked him down with a rifle handle.
“Don’t move. Stay where you are.” Jason said calmly.
Klaycon stared at Jason furiously and said, “It is always you. One day, you will get Gloria killed.”
Idi ran to Jason and said, “She loves him. She…”
A Glycan kicked Idi’s belly before she could finish. Idi fell back on the ground.
“It has nothing to do with them. I am your problem. Spare them.” Jason said sincerely as he looked up at Klaycon.
Klaycon aimed the rifle at Jason’s chest and said, “You are damn right!”
“Bang!” A bullet hit Jason’s chest.
Klaycon swiftly turned around and headed back to the cruiser.
“No! Nooooo!” Mark shouted desperately and ran to Jason. Titainein and others were still in shock.
Klaycon flashed a victory smile and gave the order to take off. The door slowly closed and the cruiser blasted off from the ground.
Chapter 150
It was the third day since Gloria was admitted to the hospital and Klaycon had been staying beside her all along. He knew even if he went home, he wouldn’t stop thinking about her.
A Glycan lady wearing a blue suit like uniform walked to Klaycon and said, “You look tired.”
“Hi, Kalisa.” Klaycon said and squeezed out a tired smile.
“You should get some rest.” Kalisa asked quietly.
“I am fine. How is she?” Klaycon asked caringly.
Kalisa smiled reluctantly and motioned Klaycon to step aside. They walked to Kalisa’s office and then Kalisa said, “The gunshot on her shoulder is not a big deal. The problem is the crystals in her body have cracks.”
“I thought our body could regenerate them.” Klaycon said easily.
“Yes. Our bodies are capable of regenerating some crystals, but that is not the case for the crystals powering organs.”
“You mean, there are cracks on the crystals deep in the organs? How can that be possible?” Klaycon asked in surprise.
“I don’t know. It is very uncommon to see this happens to a young Glycan. Only very old Glycans have this kind of symptoms.” Kalisa said in confusion.
“So, what is her status? How long can she live?” Klaycon asked nervously.
“After she recovers from the gunshot, she may feel no difference except experiencing fatigue. But at one point, her body will break down completely. It’s hard to say when. She may live several months or several years.”
Klaycon sighed and held on to a wall. He felt his entire world was collapsing and everything was breaking into pieces.
“Klaycon,are you alright?” Kalisa asked kindly.
It took Klaycon a while to get himself together. Then he gazed at Kalisa and said, “Is there anything you can do?”
“There is something we can try. But I can’t make any promise.”
“What is that?” Klaycon asked hastily.
“The blackstone treatment.”
Klaycon heard about this before. It was a research program funded by the 17 families to prolong Glycan lifespan. The idea was to reactivate the body to resynthesize those critical crystals.
“Is it working?”
“For those very old Glycans, the answer is no. Probably because their fragile body couldn’t even handle the reactivation process. But in this case, since Gloria is young, it might work. Nobody knows.”
Klaycon thought for several seconds and said, “Let’s do it.” Klaycon.
“It is extremely expensive and her family…”
“I know her family doesn’t have the money. I will take care of that. Start the process as soon as possible.” Klaycon interrupted Kalisa and said decisively.
“Where do you plan to get the money?”
“Let’s me worry about that.” Klaycon said easily. After killing Klizan, there was nothing he couldn’t do for Gloria.
“OK. But we do need her consent. Once the process started, she will be frozen for two or three months.” Kalisa said.
“I will talk to her and she will agree.” Klaycon said confidently and left Kalisa’s office.
Later Gloria woke up and saw Klaycon sitting next to her.
“How do you feel?” Klaycon asked caringly.
“Is Jason alright?” Gloria asked listlessly.
Klaycon paused for a second and said, “He is fine.”
“I don’t trust you.” Gloria said as she struggled to sit up.
“Gloria, trust me. He is fine.” Klaycon said as he looked Gloria in her eyes.
Gloria stared at Klaycon for several seconds and asked, “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know he is fine?”
“He didn’t tell me where he was going. Gloria, you see, he is a prisoner. He has to run. I don’t know where he is and how to get in touch with him. He told me that he would contact you once he found someplace safe. You need to trust me on this.”
Gloria heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Klaycon, thank you. Thank you.”
Klaycon smiled reluctantly and asked, “How you ended up on that Dolanz’s prison?”
“That is a long story.”
“Did you go to prison Listan?”
“Yes.”
“I went there and tried to find you. You must wear a very good disguise.” Klaycon said sadly.
“I used a prototype body transformer.”
“Do you know the side effect of that transformer?”
“I don’t care.”
Klaycon knew all those body transformers took a toll on the subject’s health. He felt everything now clicked.
“What is it?” Gloria asked impatiently as she noticed Klaycon was lost.
“Gloria, your body are suffering from a very rare disease. The doctor suggested a treatment and it will put you under for two or three months.”
“I don’t want it.” Gloria said firmly.
“You are worried that Jason won’t be able to contact you during that time.”
Gloria nodded.
“Well, if you don’t go through this treatment, you will die in months. Then you will never be able to see him.” Klaycon said seriously.
Gloria didn’t say a word. They fell into silence for a while. The night started to creep in, gnawing the last light on the horizon. Klaycon sighed and said, “The doctor will explain the situation to you and ask your permission for the treatment. If I were you, I will take it. You think about it? OK?” Klaycon said kindly.
Gloria kept a straight face, looking out of the window.
Klaycon backed off and left the room.
Chapter 151
When Jason woke up, he found himself lying in a prison cell, but not the one in Listan. There was a porthole on the wall. He tried to stand up, but the pain on his chest and his right thigh forced him down. He found a black bruise on his chest right under the chest pocket where he put the badge he got from Titainein. There was a big hole on the pocket and the badge was gone. He immediately checked other pockets, but he couldn’t find it. The wound on the leg was botched just enough to stop the bleeding. He slowly pushed himself up and stumbled to the porthole. He could see several Oepttese vessels at close range and planet Weithei in the distance.
Several hours later, an old Oepttese wearing a sharp blue military uniform strolled to Jason’s cell, followed by two young Oepttese. His ragged and cold face echoed with the general epaulets. He took out a bun and threw it to Jason. It hit the wall like a rock.
“No, thank you. My teeth are not as strong as yours.” Jason said in a joking tone.
“You are funny.” The old Oepttese said excitedly as he glanced over at his two companies.
Jason was wondering where this Oepttese got this superior feeling. Oepttese was as much a second class species as Human.
“You are a prisoner in Listan. What is your business here?” The old Oepttese said easily.
“I was on vacation.” Jason said carelessly.
“You and your friends picked a very unique place for vacation.”
“What happened to my friends and father? Where are they?” Jason asked nervously.
“If I were you, I will worry about myself first.”
“What did you do to them?” Jason shouted.
“What I will do depends how you answer the following questions?” The Oepttese said casually.
Jason took a deep breath and said, “I am listening.”
“How much do you know about the big Hylocan eyeball?” The old Oepttese asked with an evil smile.
Jason was surprised this Oepttese knew about the eyeball, but he put on an innocent look and said, “I don’t understand.”
“Oh, I am quite sure you do. When your father mentioned that to me, I didn’t believe him. However, he somehow convinced me that it does exist. Now your reaction just proved that your father wasn’t lying.” The old Oepttese said confidently.
“Where is my father?” Jason asked.
“He is helping us. Now tell me about that big Hylocan eyeball.” The old Oepttese said avidly.
“You tell me where my father and friends are and I will tell you about the Hylocan eyeball.” Jason said in a demanding voice.
“You like to play tough, don’t you?” The old Oepttese said happily as he showed something to Jason.
Jason recognized it right away. It was Gloria’s family badge with a deep dent at the front.
“You are a very lucky guy. The bullet hit on this thing. The owner of the badge wasn’t that lucky.” The old Oepttese said in a low voice.
“What happened to Gloria? Tell me! Tell me!” Jason shouted like crazy.
“Tell me about the big Hylocan eyeball, then I will let you see her.”
