“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kai managed to say as he gasped for breath.
She threw Kai onto the bed and stood in front of him. Kai had always seen Trisha as a sweet person but right now she was nothing but dangerous and threatening.
“What do you want with me?” she asked, her voice turning serious.
Kai breathed deeply, “I need your help,” he said.
“I figured you would say that,” Trish said. “I made it pretty obvious that I hate this place didn’t I?”
“Then why work for it?”
“They have leverage on me,” Trish said, “The reason I was forced to join and the reason I can’t quit.”
Kai looked at her expectantly. Just what leverage did the enemy have on her?
“The organization is holding my sister captive,” she said.
Kai felt a turmoil of emotions. He was furious knowing that the enemy would use such tactics to manipulate a cadet.
“I’ll help you in whatever way you need,” Trisha said. “But you need to help me as well.”
Kai already knew what she wanted from him, “We’ll get your sister back,” he smiled, “don’t worry.”
“Thank you,” Trisha managed a smile.
“So do we have a deal?” Kai asked.
Trisha put her glasses on, “Deal,” she said with a voice so sweet and deadly, it made Kai’s skin crawl.
Kai wasted no time and started briefing her about what he required for his mission.
“I need access to the ship’s main control room,” he said. “I can take over the entire mothership from in there.”
“Take over?” she asked. “You seem to think it's child’s play.”
“Trust me,” he smiled at her. “It is.”
“If you say so,” Trisha said and pulled out a huge blueprint from her desk.
“Is that the ship’s blueprint?” he asked.
She nodded in response, “This path is the most heavily guarded one,” she traced her finger along a line. “We have to avoid it at all costs.”
She started mapping the entire route out for him, “So we take this elevator to the corridor, para-jump to the next floor, get inside the room, cut through the wall and get into the weapons room, not take any of the weapons, exit the room, take the corridor to the elevator and then go two floors up, and finally, take the door to the main control room.”
Kai paused for a moment to comprehend everything she said. “Couldn’t we just take the elevator all the way to the top?” he asked.
Trisha looked at the map again. “Huh, I actually missed that,” she stuck her tongue out.
Kai sighed. He was beginning to doubt if choosing her to be an accomplice was a good idea. It wasn’t like he another choice though. He had to work with whoever he could find.
“Now that we’ve set the route, when should we pull this off?” he asked.
“At exactly 0400 hours. The guards’ shifts switch around then,” Trisha said. “If we slip in during a shift change we’ll have the least chance of getting caught.”
“Do you have a backup plan if we get caught?” Kai asked.
“Since no one else knows you’re an Aliea Academy cadet there won't be any problem,” Trisha explained. “They’ll just think we’re the maintenance crew going around to do a checkup.”
“I guess we’re all set then,” Kai said.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Trisha said.
Kai wished he could see it as fun too, but in reality, it was everything but that.
***
2-5
Chris froze in attention, her fingers trembling in nervousness, the silence inside the enemy camp giving her chills.
“We’ve got an intruder,” the General repeated and glared at everyone.
She tensed. Nerves of steel? No. Nerves like jelly? Pretty much. The cadets formed a single line, ready for the General to certify they weren't the enemy. The General went around with a small device in his hand; a metal stick with a small black box stuck to it at an angle.
“What is that thing?” Chris asked.
“That’s an energy scanner,” Lisara said.
“It scans energy?”
“Yeah. Each one of us has our own special energy signature. The scanner checks the energy signature for each of the cadets and checks if they’re part of the organization.”
“How do they know our energy scans?”
“They stored your scan in the database when you first joined up.”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed nervously. She was terrified. Now what was she going to do? The General was only two cadets away from her. Her arms and legs were tight. Her heart beat like a drum. She could feel her entire body becoming heavier and heavier. Her head, in contrast, felt light, like it was a hot air balloon floating into the sky.
The General walked over and waved the scanner in front of her, and a loud beep emanated from the scanner almost instantly, leaving her to wonder if that was good or not.
“Alright cadet,” he said. “Good to have you.”
Chris stared at him like he had done a backflip. She’d passed the test. She couldn’t believe it. Just how in the world had she passed the test?
“So how did it go?” her communicator crackled with a voice.
Kai, she realized. Though she really wanted to talk to him she risked revealing her identity if she did anything suspicious.
“Kai now is not a good time,” she whispered “I’m busy.”
“In the middle of getting a security test done?” he asked.
Chris eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“You ever wonder how you got a positive on the energy scans?” he asked.
“No way,” she gasped.
“The story is way more fun than you think it is.”
***
Kai sat on the bedside, his fingers drumming on his thighs, his mind preparing itself for his infiltration mission.
Trisha walked over, “You might like to see this,” she handed him a laptop. On the screen was a live feed from the camp Chris was in right now.
“That’s the only camp that’s been stationed on the ground,” Trisha said.
“I know,” Kai said. “One of my friends is working undercover in that camp right now.”
“I figured that might be the case,” she said. “I think she’s in trouble,” her fingers pointed a corner on the feed.
Kai could see that the General was talking to each cadet one by one. “What’s he doing?” he asked.
“He’s using an energy scanner,” Trisha explained. “It checks your energy signature and validates it. It’s the most impenetrable security scan since no one can change their energy signatures, if they want to stay alive that is.”
“This is not good,” he said “Chris will be in trouble when her scan turns up negative.”
“I know, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do from here.”
“We have to think of something,” his mind raced.
“Listen to me, Kai,” Trisha looked straight at him. “The camp is miles away from us and there’s terrible weather. There’s nothing you can do to save her. There’s no way.”
Scanners. Mothership. Energy Signature, Kai’s mind clicked into place. He plopped the laptop down on his lap and started hitting the keys at an alarming speed, his fingers blurring across the smooth keyboard.
“What’re you going to do?” she asked.
“The scanners validate an energy signature by connecting to the mothership and using the data stored in the main network right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“How cool would it be if when the scanner asked if an energy signature was valid, the main network said yes every single time?”
“For that you’d have to hack into the computer servers.”
“And change its basic code,” he grinned.
“You can’t seriously be thinking about this.”
Kai didn't pay attention to her and diverted his full focus onto the laptop.
/> “You can't hack such an advanced network!” Trisha exclaimed. “Maybe you could do it in a month but you don't have that long. Your friend’s scan is up in a few seconds and-”
“Done,” Kai hit the enter key. A long list of codes appeared on his screen, the text’s contrasting green font shining against the black screen. He leaned it and scanned through the coding, “Now where are you hiding?” he murmured.
“What is it now?” Trisha sighed, her voice showing that this race against time was really wearing her out. Meanwhile the feed showed that the General was getting closer and closer to Chris.
“I’ve hacked into the server,” he explained. “I just need to find the database they store the energy signature scans in.”
“Try looking up 02SD,” she said.
Kai looked at her quizzically but tried it anyway. He ran a search for the four letter code and found a file under the same name. He opened it up and found the energy signature database inside.
“How did you know that?”
“I’ve poked around the servers before as well,” Trisha said. “I know stuff.”
Kai stared at her “Wouldn't you have known how to hack the server then?” he asked. If she did know, they could’ve saved precious time.
“I did it a long time ago,” Trisha said. “Everything has changed since then. We’re just lucky that the file was under the same name.”
“You could have tried helping me hack it though,” he said. “Two hackers are faster than one.”
“Just focus, will you? We’re losing time,” she said. “That friend of yours will end up in deep trouble if you don't hurry.”
Kai took a look at the feed from the camp, his mind and muscles tensing at the image. The General was just two cadets away from Chris.
He rapidly hit the keys on the computer, changing the code of the database in an instant. He waited with baited breath as the General scanned Chris, and jumped in joy when the small black box sent out a loud beep. He sank into his chair and laid his head over its top, his eyes staring at the ceiling. Just how many more close calls were they going to have?
He covered his eyes with his hands, “Just go back to normal already.”
***
Chris was wide eyed all through Kai’s entire story.
“And that’s what happened,” he finished.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Chris said. She couldn’t believe the number of things that had been going on.
“A ‘thank you’ would be good enough,” he chuckled.
“Thanks,” she smiled.
“I did have some help though.”
“It’s nice that we’ve got someone like Trisha on our side,” Chris said. “Be careful though. Just because she’s nice doesn't mean she’s entirely trustworthy.”
“Yeah, I’ll be on the lookout. So what are you planning on doing now?”
“I’m going to try and investigate things around here,” she said.
“Cadets. Attention,” the General interrupted her conversation. He walked over to the front of the line and looked at them with a cold, hard stare. “Intel was wrong about the intruder,” he said. “Now that we’re all clear we’ve been instructed to move to the mothership due to safety regulations. All of you pack up and out in five minutes.”
“Did you hear that?” Chris whispered into the intercom. “I’m coming your way.”
“Seriously? To the mothership?”
“Yeah, because of some safety regulations stuff,” Chris said. “The storm outside is getting pretty bad I think.”
“Yeah. It’s worsened a lot,” Kai agreed. “The Demon Riser seems to be under a force field though. That’s what Trisha told me.”
“What?” Chris exclaimed. She didn't remember the Demon Riser having that kind of a defense line. If there actually were in fact a force field around the Demon Riser then only the enemy could have set it up.
“The force field over there is top notch,” he said. “I don’t know who created it, but we shouldn’t see the Demon Riser get a scratch from this whole storm.”
“Who’re you talking to?” Lisara jumped next to Chris.
“My friend on the mothership," she said.
“Okey-dokey then," and she ran off.
Chris was a little weirded out. She was pretty sure she had given one of the dumbest answers ever, but Lisara seemed to have believed her anyway.
“Do you think that girl is normal?” Kai laughed.
“I intend to find out,” she smiled. “So I guess I’ll see you in a while then.”
“Get here quick,” Kai said and then the intercom cut off.
Chris walked around the base looking at all the cadets packing their stuff into metal cases.
Lisara walked along with her, “So why are we going out there anyway?” she asked.
“That storm seems to be pretty fierce,” Chris said. “Maybe they feel this camp might get taken down.”
“You think they’ll let us work on the mothership?” she asked excitedly.
Chris wondered what Lisara found so exciting about working on the mothership. Maybe all the ‘mothership-cadet’ jobs had some sort of life benefit package with bonuses.
“All cadets,” the General yelled out. “Line up. We’re heading to the mothership.” The entrance opened up. A huge gust of wind hit them and pinned them all to the wall.
“Move forward, men,” one of the officers yelled and hustled through the wind.
Though Chris was already fighting to stay on her feet, the wind made her struggle harder and harder. The weather outside wasn't playing nice with their camp at all. The wind and ice tore through the metal walls, piercing into the warm camp. They had to get to the mothership as fast as they could if they wanted to escape the storm. Her legs started shivering in the cold. It took her a second to realize the tremoring ground below her was what was causing her to tremble. A mini-quake hit the facility and parts of the ceiling collapsed, the wind picking up the debris and holding it prisoner to its will.
“By God,” the General stood at the entrance, looking at the world outside. “They’ve started the Poseidon,” he muttered.
Chris wondered what the Poseidon was but she didn't bother asking the General. She had more important things to do. She knew it was going to be extremely dangerous to go out into the open right now. She had to figure out a safer way to get to the mothership.
“Do not worry," One of the higher-ranking officers quieted the crowd. “We shall reach the mothership safely, I assure-”
A huge piece of ice broke through the walls and smacked into the officer, sending him deep into the storm. Chris would’ve laughed at the irony of the situation if fear hadn't held her in its grasp. A hundred terrified kids stood still, shocked and scared.
The General yelled out in his most threatening voice ever, trying to scare the cadets into maintaining order. But honestly, the storm was much scarier. The cadets ran about in complete chaos, their screams of terror filling the air. A few of them fled from the camp and into the storm, only to be swept up by the wind and lost forever. The others tried to huddle deep within the camp, but with the collapsing ceiling, that wasn’t a safe place to be either.
Amongst all the chaos Chris heard a loud blast. Everyone stopped running and turned towards her, the noisy disorder turning into deadly silence. She looked above her. A huge chunk of metal broke off from the ceiling and dropped through the air. Terror seized her. Her entire body froze in panic. The chunk of metal though didn't seem to have the same problem. It shot down, the force of gravity helping it pick up speed.
She froze in place as the huge piece of metal came hurtling onto her, and the wind didn't seem like it was going to pick it up this time.
***
Carlos watched as the underground cave began to crumble. Loose sand flowed down from the cracked roof and onto the tremoring floor in a river of sand. Juliana and Elizabeth acted fast and ushered all the rescued cadets out of the cave in seconds.
Carlos headed out la
st, just as a huge rock broke from the ceiling and dropped to the floor. He cursed, “The Zeus is shifting to its next stage much faster than I expected.”
“The Poseidon,” Elizabeth repeated, recalling the name for the second stage of the Zeus Bomb.
“We don’t have much time,” he hesitated. “The next stage isn’t pretty,”
“We better get moving,” Juliana said.
Carlos glanced behind him. The cave had completely collapsed, blocking the entrance. There was no going back to that stronghold. The tunnel they were in went only one way - deep underground. All the other paths had been blocked by debris from the collapse of the tunnel walls.
“Do you think it’s safe to go deeper down?” Juliana asked.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Carlos confessed. “Going up to the surface is out of the question since the path is blocked, and even if we did get there the storm would just annihilate us.”
“But I think going deeper is going to trap us eventually,” Elizabeth said.
“Like I said, we don’t have a choice,” Carlos repeated.
They followed the tunnel, with Elizabeth trying to chit-chat to pass time. “So what does Jake want?” she asked him.
“With the Lambda Driver? I seriously don’t know. Moreover, he promised Q that he wouldn't attack Aliea if he brought the Lambda Driver back, but I guess it’s too late for that to happen.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” she scratched her head.
Carlos knew Elizabeth had a point. It did seem very silly for Jake to do that. Send your enemy on a mission to retrieve an important item that you really needed and then destroy his planet before he got back. It was completely unnecessary thing to do. Jake wouldn’t get any benefit from it.
Carlos stumbled. Spots of purple entered his vision, and in a flash he collapsed to the ground.
“Carlos!” Juliana helped him up.
He coughed hard. His lungs felt like they were exploding. “The poison,” he muttered. In all the commotion, the fact that Jake had poisoned him had completely slipped his mind. Carlos could feel the poison taking a toll on his body. His legs and arms became weak. His skin felt dry and cracked.
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