“I see,” Aiden said.
“So, we’re members of the Cross Sikama in this time, right?” Kimberley asked Mariah.
“Yes, we are.”
“No, I’m not,” Kimberley said. “It means nothing to me.”
“You have no choice,” Mariah said. “Let’s get to the control room and secure it.”
The three adventurers left the cargo bay and moved down a white passage.
“Obviously, this is a cargo ship,” Mariah said.
“Why do you think so?” Kimberley wondered.
“This is the length of the ship. Those doors along this passage lead to cargo holds like the one we just left,” the Bookmaker replied. “The ship’s cockpit lies ahead of us.”
“Mariah, how come you know so much about this ship?” Aiden asked.
“We reviewed Class B Wellington XC Cargo ships built by Wellington Constructions from X10.02.40 to X31.02.40 before embarking on this mission,” the Sikama said.
“Mission?” Kimberley frowned. “So, we’re really intruders?”
“Yes, we are.”
A small elevator took the three time-travelers up to the control room, which was a spacious hall with all sorts of humming consoles and flashing lights. Obviously, Mariah knew her way around.
“There’s nobody here,” Aiden said.
“They all left,” Kimberley aired. “This Q-gun must be huge.” She caressed the weapon.
“Done,” Mariah announced, shutting down a computer system. “We’re on autopilot now, heading to our Earth’s moon.”
“And what were we on before?” Aiden wondered.
Mariah laughed. “They set the ship to switch off ten seconds from now and limp into space. We couldn’t have restarted it, and we would have all died in here when our oxygen ran out.”
“Or we would have left the ship with the white book after finding Rachel,” Kimberley pointed out.
“What if Rachel has left the ship and we’re the only ones in it right now?” Aiden reasoned.
“We won’t find out if we don’t start looking for her right now,” Mariah said.
“And how do we go about doing that?” Kimberley demanded.
“My TelepathyGi system has mapped out the ship’s design and tracked life forms within its shell.”
Aiden was all ears. “And?”
“And I spotted life forms in Cargo Bays 3, 4, 22 and 45,” Mariah continued. “We gotta check out Cargo Bay 22. The life form in there is feminine.”
“Feminine and human?” Aiden began.
“Yes, but we can only know for sure by going there,” Mariah said. “Let’s go.”
“We’ll check all the cargo bays you mentioned,” Kimberley said, brandishing her big gun. “I don’t trust that TelepathyGi system.”
“As you wish,” Mariah agreed. “Not because of your Q-gun, remember that.”
Cargo Bays 3, 4 and 45 harbored strange animals.
“Remains 22,” Kimberley said, approaching the cargo bay. The door slid open and revealed a young girl sitting on the farthest end of the compartment’s floor.
“Rachel!” Aiden shouted, running up to her. “Seeing you have never felt so good.”
“They took the book!” the little girl exclaimed. “They said they will do with it as they pleased.”
“Then we need to look at the ship’s captain’s log and know what’s happening here,” Mariah said. “They must have a secret base on the Moon.” She hurried out of the cargo bay. “I’m going back to the control room to find the log.”
“Did they torture you?” Kimberley asked Rachel.
“No, but they weren’t nice, either.” Rachel wore a futuristic contraption of pink sleeves and brown leggings complete with a brown corset wound round her waist atop a flared purple skirt. “What do you think they will do with the book?”
“I don’t know,” Kimberley said. “Maybe they’ll look for someone who can do something.”
“Maybe look for Ben Haddad?” Aiden quipped.
Kimberley turned to him. “That name just keeps popping up, doesn’t it?”
“The men back at FC9 said they will help us by taking the book to him.”
“What’s FC9?” Kimberley wondered out loud.
“Floating City 9,” Aiden replied. “We stayed on it back in Japan, before we brought you forward and then Rachel disappeared.”
“Did these men have a piece of the white book?”
“Yes, Samuel had a piece of the book.” Aiden frowned. “Come to think of it, he could have followed us here.”
“That makes sense,” Rachel said. “They will come after us if they have the means.”
“Mariah, anything on the captain’s log?” Kimberley asked the Bookmaker in the cockpit through TelepathyGi.
“Yes,” Mariah said. “In their haste, they forgot to take the white book with them. It’s in Cargo Bay 4.”
“A creepy thing is in there,” Aiden reminded everyone.
“Let’s hope the Q-gun can scare the creature into inaction,” Kimberley said.
Cargo Bay 4 opened to reveal a swollen animal snorting like a pig despite powerful jaws that harbored huge fangs.
“Mariah, are you sure the book is in here?” Kimberley asked the Sikama. “No sign of any book here.”
“You have to go round the big guy,” Mariah told her. “Find a way to…”
The Q-gun’s wheeze scared the hybrid daring the three time-travelers and it drew back to a corner of the compartment. The white book lay on a pedestal at the farthest edge of the bay. A black pistol lay beside it.
“Wow,” Rachel said, looking at the behemoth animal grunting a few feet from the pedestal. “No wonder they didn’t bother to get the book before running away.”
“It’s now a normal book again?” Aiden frowned in his confusion.
“How do we get the book, Kim?” Rachel asked, looking at the frightening creature grumbling at a corner of the bay.
Kimberley brandished her weapon. “Stay behind me.”
The creature guarding the book backed into its sleeping quarters as the humans moved into its lair. Its massive snout hid half of its face and its fangs looked dreadful up close.
“Got it,” Rachel said, stepping away from the pedestal with the ancient volume. She backed Kimberley. “I took the gun, just in case.”
“Good, let’s get out of here,” the Portwood sergeant said. “That thing has been dreaming of eating us ever since we came in here.” She fired off another shot from the heavy gun and the animal cringed when a part of its sleeping quarters disintegrated.
The humans got to the bay’s massive doors and closed it behind them. The creature within growled and honked in anger, thumping around in frustration.
“Phew,” Kimberley let out. “Let’s go to the control room.”
“Expecting you guys,” Mariah quipped through her TelepathyGi communicator.
The trio had left Cargo Bay 4 open. Aiden peered into this compartment as he passed it. “Kimberley, look,” he exclaimed.
“What’s wrong now?” Kimberley stopped to follow the boy into the bay.
Aiden pointed at one of the cargo bay’s round windows. Rachel looked and drew back in alarm.
“Wonder how long they’ve been there,” Kimberley whispered.
“What is it?” Mariah demanded from the cockpit.
“The Gray Ones are outside the ship,” Kimberley told her. “That means Carl Bain could be with them.”
“They can’t come in,” Aiden said. “The ankhs will keep them out.”
“And Carl Bain can’t force his way in, because he won’t have his powers to do so.”
“Just be careful,” Mariah said. “Be on the lookout for that guy. He’s crazy.”
“As long as there are ankhs in the ship, they can’t come in,” Kimberley said. She felt one of the demons’ hollow faces roaming over her body, its slender fingers sliding silently across the heavy glass controlling the ship’s interior environment. “Hate these things,�
�� she grumbled.
“Someone’s here, Kim.” Mariah’s voice trembled.
“Who?”
“The ship’s captain.”
* * *
“Let me have the book and, and I’ll be on my way,” the man said, holding Mariah from behind while pointing a weapon at her chin. “I see you have a Q-gun.”
“Scared of a Q-gun?”
“Don’t try me, woman.”
“You ought to give up now, captain,” Kimberley kept the weapon pointed at the man.
“We will let you go, if you simply let our friend go right now, sir,” Rachel said, her weapon unwavering. “Why do you think you can succeed with four of us against you?”
“You’ll know when it’s too late,” the captain said. “Now, hand over the book.”
“Not on my life,” Kimberley said. “When this is over, I’m gonna arrest you.”
The captain laughed. “It will be over for you guys alright, very soon.”
“Aiden, now!”
Aiden slapped the spongy material he’d had with him all this while on the back of the captain’s neck and the fellow froze before him. “Glad to be of service,” he murmured.
Mariah wriggled out of her captor’s arms and pulled the X54 pistol from his right hand. “What’s that thing you used on him?”
“It’s a paralyzer,” Aiden said. “I think it paralyzes any animal.”
“I can remember now,” Kimberley aired. “Aiden, my alternate memory tells me you work on this ship as an Animal Pacifier, whatever that means.”
Rachel giggled and Aiden frowned at her.
“No wonder you had on their uniform,” Mariah said with a laugh. She looked at the human statue once her captor and smiled. “Too bad. He just failed his mission.”
Kimberley stopped before the group and raised an old-fashioned sharpie. “We need to protect ourselves with ankhs.”
“And crosses,” Mariah added.
“Suit yourself.” Kimberley used the permanent pen on her arm.
The others took turns with the sharpie.
“Where did you get it?” Rachel wondered aloud.
“In one of the cargo bays,” Kimberley replied.
“They use it to mark the animals being transported,” Aiden said, feeling pleased with himself.
“Is that the Moon?” Rachel wondered, staring at the cargo ship’s main monitor.
“Yes, that’s the Moon, and we just arrived.” Mariah sat down on the pilot’s seat. “I’m shutting down auto pilot.”
Rachel was amazed. “You know how to work this thing?”
“She trained for it,” Kimberley said, beginning to appreciate the situation. “We are meant to save Rachel from this ship. Thing is, who organized it?”
“The Cross Sikama,” Mariah said. “You should know that by now.”
“Not that,” Kimberley said. “I mean, who is their leader?”
“Better still,” Aiden cut in, “are we supposed to land on the Moon?”
“No need for that,” Mariah said. “Once we land, we leave with the book.”
“Leave for where?”
“To see someone who can help us end this,” Mariah said.
“And who is that?” Kimberley asked.
“Are we supposed to land on the Moon?” Aiden repeated.
“No,” Mariah told him, “but landing on the Moon is not a bad idea.”
“Who will help us end all this, Mariah?” Kimberley repeated. “Ben Haddad?”
“He’s a bad man,” Rachel warned. “Father told me that.”
“He worked with your father, Rachel,” Mariah said. “If there’s anyone who could help us now, it’s him.”
“I guess he’s worth a shot,” Aiden said and Kimberley frowned at him. “Samuel wanted us to go see this guy, Kim,” he defended.
“Look, guys, we have no other options,” Mariah argued. “Our enemies want to take the book to him, so why shouldn’t we do so as well?”
“If they want to take the book to this fellow, why do you call them our enemies, Mariah?” Rachel asked the Sicarii Kabbalah Masada.
“Maybe they’ll kidnap him or something,” Mariah added. “We shouldn’t wait to find out, should we?” Nobody continued the argument. “I guess that’s a ‘no.’ Now, let’s end this.”
“What about him?” Aiden asked, pointing at the ship’s captain’s living statue. “Should we leave him on the ship?”
“As long as nobody revives him by slapping his neck with that paralyzing agent, he’s fine right where he is now,” Mariah said, guiding the Class B vessel to its landing port. The ship’s descent was uneventful, and it soon landed on the port. “There,” she finally said. “Time to get out of here.”
“Wellington XCX12, you are surrounded,” the TelepathyGi communicator crackled. “Power down and exit the ship if you want to live. This is Samuel, by the way.”
“Samuel?” Rachel’s mouth remained open.
“The guy you met on FC9?” Kimberley asked her.
“Yes,” Aiden said. “This means they chased us here.”
Kimberley crossed her arms. “Go on.”
“Samuel and his friends wanted to take us to Ben Haddad when they realized Rachel’s real identity.”
“That was the right thing to do,” Mariah said.
“The right thing?” Kimberley frowned as she turned to the last speaker. “How come you still see them as enemies, then?”
“That they wanted to do the right thing doesn’t mean they were the good guys, Kim,” Mariah explained. “It simply means they knew the right thing to do. Whatever they use this knowledge to do will be up to them.”
“You really know how to win an argument,” Kimberley grumbled.
“Landing on the Moon was a bad choice,” Rachel began.
“Makes no difference,” Kimberley said. “We’re leaving right now, eh, Mariah?”
“Exactly.”
“Not really,” someone said behind them and they all looked up. The ship’s captain seized Rachel from behind and the little girl flung away the white book before her assailant snatched her weapon and pointed it at her chin. “Don’t move!” the man warned Kimberley when she made to step forward. “Just hand over the book.”
“I thought you guys said he will be paralyzed until we revive him?” Kimberley asked Mariah.
The weapon went off, startling everyone except the shooter, who brought the gun’s hot muzzle closer to his victim’s face. “Give me what I want right now or I’ll destroy her face right here right now!”
Kimberley nodded at Aiden and the boy kicked the book back to the captain since he was very close to the ancient volume.
The man forced Rachel to bend down and pick up the mystical volume. He backed out of the control room still holding the little girl as cover. “Nobody moves or she dies,” he snapped, getting to the double exit doors and punching the buttons that opened it. He soon slipped out with Rachel and punched buttons outside the room.
Rachel stamped her foot on her captor’s boot, distracting the man enough to jump away from his grasp. Kimberley swung her weapon up and the blue wheeze slammed the closing door, blowing away the double structure and flinging the Ankh Sikama behind the doors out into the long passage stretching all the way down the ship’s length.
The time-travelers rushed into the passage as the fallen captain picked himself up and grabbed the white book before scampering down the passage. Kimberley shot at him again.
The man anticipated the shot and crashed to the ground before it got to him. The destructive blue wave swept over his supine body and he got up and disappeared round a corner.
“He’s heading for the escape pods!” Kimberley shouted. “Quick, we must not let him leave the ship. You know what that means for the book.”
“Yes,” Aiden cried. “Carl Bain and his friends are still outside!”
Rachel joined her friends as they raced down the long passage to the junction where a perpendicular corridor crossed the longer passage. T
he fleeing captain slammed the door of an escape hatch. Kimberley fired at the hatch’s door, blowing it open.
“He’s gone!” Mariah cried, stopping before the smoldering door. She heard the escape pod crash to the ground outside. “They will swarm in here now.”
“This is all your fault,” Kimberley snapped. “We could have left a long time ago.”
“Better still, we could be in luck if they actually kidnapped Ben Haddad,” Mariah said.
“And why would they actually do that?” Rachel began.
“Because they’re a different faction?” Mariah replied. “The Ankh Sikama will…”
“Oh, stop that bullshit,” Kimberley snapped. “Tired of hearing that.”
Mariah looked hurt. “But it’s the truth, Kim.”
Shouting and lazer fire echoed outside.
“What’re they shooting at?” Aiden wondered.
Kimberley checked her Q-gun. “We need to get out there and get back the book. It will be very dangerous, so the kids will stay back.”
“But I want to go…,” Aiden began. “We can do some good, you know.”
“Or die trying,” Kimberley added. “You have a TelepathyGi. We’ll call you when we need you.”
Mariah brandished her weapon and drew nearer Kimberley.
“We jump out through this escape hatch and find cover,” Kimberley said. “We’ll know what next to do when we get there.” She switched her weapon’s action to ‘daze.’
Mariah nodded. Her hands trembled.
Kimberley faced the open escape hatch, beyond which she could see nothing. “Now!”
Both women hurried down the length of the hatch and jumped out. The glaring lights and blaring noise from many lazer firearms stunned them at first, but they fell back into darkness and the flashing lights vanished.
“We’re underneath the ship,” Kimberley whispered, peering out of the cargo boxes blocking the lights. The spaceport had few buildings in the middle of a desert-like rocky terrain the Moon boasted as its surface. A firefight between the humans and their infernal visitors had ensued. Nobody had the upper hand at the moment.
“They’re shooting at the Booklords,” Mariah whispered.
The White Book Page 39