Star of Fantasy

by Jacky Qian

  Gioni couldn't take the idiocy. "Shut up!" he yelled, and immediately he fired into the ceiling. By doing so, he intended to force his men to shut their traps. Unexpectedly, his bullet broke into pieces after its collision with the ceiling, whereupon Gioni outsmarted himself by getting hit with a piece of his own bullet.

  "Aw, man! Cut it out! No more laughing!" cried Gioni. "Just bring 'em all back alive!"

  "Coughing! Is everyone okay?" Darwin inquired.

  He wanted to get up but felt pin pricking pain and numbness in his legs. He got a charley horse.

  Nina urged, "Hilton! Give me the fast recovery medicine!"

  "We were overpowered by them." asked Mandis as he climbed out of the debris of the wooden cabin, "Why did they stop attacking?"

  Suddenly something occurred to him. He rushed back to the debris and helped Simons to get up asking, "Captain, are you all right?"

  "It was a fierce attack!" said Silverstar to himself, "But why did they stop their attack?"

  Nicholas paused in thought. "Maybe it could be ..."

  The door of the lift was abruptly and brutally kicked open.

  Gioni walked leisurely out of it among smoke and dust.

  Before Jack could draw out his gun, a soldier beside Gioni fired at him. A thread of electrical current shot at him. Jack was hit by the current and fell immediately after. The current returned to the gun in no time.

  Gioni fired at the sky, "Don't resist! Follow us!"

  "Run!" shouted Darwin. Silverstar ran only a few steps before he realized that he had left Catherine behind. The moment he turned his head, he was hit by a high-voltage electrical current.

  "Alright! I'll pass out one more time!" thought Silverstar. He fell onto the ground motionless.

  Blade Mountain

  With a yawn, Silverstar woke up with a deep yawn and a thick stream of drool from the corner of his mouth. He knew, at least, that the shock of the electric gun had worn off.

  Silverstar forced his eyes to open wider, whereupon he found that he was prone upon an iron plate in the belly of an armored vehicle. There was a tingle in his chest, obviously where he was hit by that weapon, and his dragon-fang dagger and waist pouch were absent. The armored vehicle shook and rattled obnoxiously, so he figured they must be on the move. When he tried to get up, he realized that his hands were bound. Silverstar fell onto the iron plate with a clamorous noise, which alerted one of its crews. A dark figure emerged and approached Silverstar slowly. It was a tall man of middle age and sharply chiseled features. As indicated by the occasional glint from the golden Nazi insignia on the chest, it was Gioni. As a greeting, the man gave Silverstar a swift kick and an uppercut. Then he rearranged his clothes and said, "You're Silverstar, the kid who had a duel with the exterminator. Well, listen up." He picked up Silverstar by the collar and deadpanned: "You'd better behave yourself or…" He drew a sharp knife that bore the stains of dark-red fluid. He pointed it at Silverstar's jugular vein, bringing it in so close as to nearly pierce the skin. Suddenly, the driver of the vehicle reported, "Here we are, sir."

  Gioni put away his knife and continued, "That's it. Do you understand?"

  "Yes." answered Silverstar in a shivering voice. The armored vehicle began to sway slightly. Silverstar looked out of the window in the ventilation. A foul, irritating pungency rushed into his nostrils. Silverstar couldn't keep himself from sneezing, but he tried his best not to surrender to it. "Oh, my God! What's that smell!?" he complained.

  "It's an acid river, the result of an experiment," the man replied. "It combines reeds and water grass through a genetic modification, resulting in a lethal acid that's powerful enough to dissolve bones. It's a plant brought here by Ossien, the Fuhrer.

  "Who's Ossien?" Silverstar asked as he wiped away the tears and dried his runny nose. "Where are my friends?"

  Gioni kicked Silverstar, pummeling his body as if it were a workout bag. As a result, Silverstar knocked against an iron plate, making a huge noise. "No wonder Bernhardt said you were fearless," Gioni said as he straightened his clothes and continued,

  "Huh! Well, you do have guts." He helped Silverstar to get up and told him, "You'll see them, but before that you need follow me. We're about to take a little trip."

  The armored vehicle, shaking from time to time, drove into a dark area with lights around. No sooner had Silverstar recovered from the dizziness caused by the kick than the outside lighted up suddenly. He closed his eyes before looking out of the window again. Dozens of tanks were parked there. It was a huge garage, probably several times the size of an NBA basketball court. Several people were shouting something in German. Several armored vehicles were transporting goods like water and food. Then, the armored vehicle, in which Silverstar stayed, stopped. Gioni stood up from his seat and walked out to be greeted immediately by a thunderous round of applause.

  A soldier, speaking German, issued the command: "Get up! Move!" He picked up Silverstar roughly and, with the butt of his gun, prodded the boy forward.

  Silverstar stepped out of the armored vehicle and found that the garage was even bigger than he had imagined it to be. It was at least twice as big as a basketball court. Its roof gave off white light automatically, but there were no discernible lights. It was difficult to guess the height of the space.

  "It's 120 meters," said a soldier in English. He seemed to have read Silverstar's mind, "This isn't the core area, though. The real facility is stored underground. Now, hurry up!" He urged Silverstar along with repeated pokes from his gun barrel. "I'm taking you to prison now. The Fuhrer wants to see you."

  "This ... is ... the day!" Gioni announced from his position atop an armored vehicle around which a crowd had gathered. "At last, it is the day when we will alter human history! At noon ..."

  Silverstar stuck out his tongue. Gioni's strong German-accented voice, projected through a loudspeaker, echoed around the hall. Silverstar judged from the man's facial expression that it was an evil speech, although he couldn't understand much of what was being said.

  Two soldiers took Silverstar to an end of the garage. Then Gioni left the cheering crowd and came over. He placed his hand upon a fingerprint recognition machine. An announcement in English came from the machine, "Fingerprints confirmed, Mr. Gioni, chief of base."

  A heavy door thundered open, revealing a dark passage. Just as the door was about to close, there came a familiar voice: "Boss, wait for me! We need to get to the core of the base!" To his surprise, Silverstar found it was the punk known as Liquor. The kid recognized Silverstar, too, and gave him an unfriendly stare.

  "Who's the kid, boss?"

  "It's none of your business. The Fuhrer wants to see him," Gioni said mechanically.

  Liquor shot a menacing look at Silverstar and followed Gioni to the end of the passage. They were blocked by another metal door. Gioni put his eyes before a small camera to have his iris scanned. With a click, three doors opened consecutively. A huge glass lift appeared before them, but it was too dark to see or perceive the surroundings.

  "Kid, take a look at our base!" Gioni said.

  Wham! The lift dropped like a rock, and the lights outside seemed to fly like darts through the glass. The drop made Silverstar feel somewhat sick to his stomach.

  "Is this already too much for you?" laughed Liquor as he saw his expression. "If that's all it takes, you'll have a tough time ahead!"

  Suddenly a white light appeared. The glass lift had reached a bright place. Silverstar was shocked by what he saw in the depth of the underground. It was a hub for numerous glass lifts. There was a huge hemisphere in front of them. Its upper and lower ends were connected to a sturdy lift. The hemisphere was the size of a small hill, and various machines churned along its circumference. Those machines were loading a lot of equipment into the lifts leaving for the underground. Their lift paused, making a boom as it did so. Gioni warned, "Don't get thrown out." Silverstar fell into the wall with a bang and complained, "What!? This lift could even make a sharp left turn?"
<
br />   Liquor was amused. "That's right, kid. It can."

  The glass lift shook as it entered the hemisphere. With another boom, it came to a complete stop. The lift's door, made of four layers of steel plates, opened at the same time. Patting Silverstar on his back head, Gioni urged him to move forward. Liquor followed immediately. Gioni turned a blind eye to Nazi guards who they passed by. They walked into a bright corridor lit up by its ceiling. The corridor led them to a guarded place. Gioni told the guards, "Prisoner 001, Silverstar, we need bring him to the prison. The rest prisoners 002, 003 and so on will be brought here later."

  A security guard barked: "Yes, sir! Open the gate!"

  Silverstar wondered what they were saying, since it was all in German.

  The three of them arrived at a huge prison, which seemed to be a polygonal shape topped with a dome. "Prisons usually have cells, though. What kind of prison is this?" Silverstar thought. Gioni said, "Enter."

  "All right," Silverstar muttered, "but this place sucks big time."

  Once Silverstar stepped inside, Gioni pressed a button and stalked off.

  Silverstar asked himself, "Could I escape?" However, the instant he reached out with his hand, he received an electrical shock that sent out a splash of crackling sparks. His body was overwhelmed by pain, which was quickly followed by numbness. He fell backward onto the ground, leaving wisps of evaporated sweat overhead. He vaguely saw that Liquor was laughing at him.

  Ossien's Biological Weapons

  Water splashed onto Silverstar's face, and as he woke up he heard Runt say, "Great! He's coming to! Thank God!"

  "I . . . ," the boy muttered. "Where am I?"

  "You suffered an electrical shock," answered Runt as he encouraged Silverstar with some water. "Those damned Nazis. They used electromagnetic nets with a high-voltage electric current instead of iron cages."

  "Are you guys all right?" asked Silverstar as he turned his head to see Runt, Nicholas, Catherine, Nina and Darwin surrounding him. "Where are the others?"

  "They're locked in a different net. Those damned Nazis brought us here. You were in a comma for half an hour. Who knows what they'll do next," explained Darwin.

  "Silverstar, are you okay?" asked Catherine gently, "You must have had a terrible electrical shock!"

  Silverstar answered with a blush: "It's okay, I'm fine now. Thanks."

  Nicholas said, "Man, you are one courageous kid! Those bastards must've given you a hard time. But damn it, why couldn't I have helped you!?"

  "Thanks, Nicholas," Silverstar replied with a slight smile. They were then approached by several Nazi soldiers. One of them said, "Mr. Ossien wants to see you! Get moving ... schnell!" Another soldier turned off the electric net and warned, "No tricks!" He fired a laser beam at a spot near Darwin's feet, "Old man, you wish to cause trouble for us, but I warn you: Behave yourself! Our bullets don't have eyes!"

  "Really?" came another voice, which the soldier couldn't have recognized. "Then, I guess you don't have eyes either."

  "Who's that!?" shouted the soldier. "Who is there ... !" Before he could finish his sentence, he was knocked senseless by Nina, who descended from above and landed a sharp punch. With a fling of her red hair, she spun round and knocked down another soldier with a kick to the chest. Jack was dumbfounded by her skills, but it was too late to pitch in. Seconds later, a musket was pointed at Nina's head. "Nice moves," said Gioni. "I've been waiting for you, but I'm afraid you'll need more practice if you hope to beat me." He set down his musket as several soldiers rushed over to bind her.

  "Damned Nazis!" cursed Hilton, "What do you want?"

  "Huh! You ask too many questions," said Gioni with contempt. "Even so, you'll have the answer soon enough."

  The heroes were escorted along a corridor. Silverstar looked around, but the cowardly Hicks couldn't hide his worry. Darwin kept a straight face, as did Nina. Jack gazed at Nina with admiration. Nicholas looked serious, and Catherine was a bit frightened. Actually, Silverstar was terrified. Nemo nervously followed Simons and Mandis, both of whom looked fearless as any sea-trained sailor should. Runt looked at Gioni in disgust. Silverstar didn't know much about the other time travelers, who, like Darwin, were expressionless. He assumed the impressively muscular one would be Collinson. Rhode, Ark and Hilton clearly had a running feud with the Nazis.

  Another huge lift appeared before them, and a soldier ordered, "Get in!" It wasn't a transparent lift like the previous one. And this one was even bigger. With a wave of Gioni's hand, a soldier outside the lift pressed a button. Its three-layer steel door closed. Then, with violent shaking, the lift plunged. Silverstar found it difficult to stand steady under movement at such a high speed. In about half a minute, the huge lift came to a clattering stop. They were ushered out of the life and into a space the size of a soccer field. The room was equipped with high-tech machines. "This place is exceedingly strange," said Runt. "Nazi technology can't be so sophisticated! It's incredible!"

  A cackle of insidious laughter was heard, causing goose bumps on its listeners, as a man emerged. He was seated on a chair at the center of the room. Strangely, he and the chair seemed to appear from out of nowhere. Shrouded in peculiar clothing, he had deep-set eyes that conveyed murderous intent. Upon seeing him, Gioni gave a low bow to demonstrate his deep respect.

  "Greetings, all," said the man. "I'm Albert Sean Ossien, a businessman from the year 2114."

  "The twenty-second century!" they gasped. Silverstar asked, "You mean, you come from the future?"

  "You must be kidding!" roared Darwin, "Stop talking nonsense!" Realizing that he wasn't surrounded by too many soldiers, Darwin drew his gun and fired several shots at Ossien. Nevertheless, as the bullets were about to hit the target, they simply froze in the air.

  "Darwin Speicher, a scientist in time and space from the twentieth century. You are actually more stupid than I expected!" Just as everyone was shocked by the unexpected scene, the bullets made a sudden U-turn and hit Darwin instead.

  "Boss!" Rhode yelled as he rushed into to catch the man, who was sinking to the ground.

  Silverstar looked at Ossien seriously and asked him, "What are you up to? Why have you come here?"

  Ossien burst into a howl of laughter and said, "Finally we have an inquisitive kid. Well, allow me to tell you my story!"

  "In the twenty-second century, they call me Dr. Ossien because I'm a respected biologist. However, more correctly I'm a trader in the underground market of biological weapons. I specialize in making those blood-thirsty monsters and selling them to time criminals in different eras. I do NOT do this for money. By doing so, I'm amassing money for a big deal, which I call Doomsday."

  "Doomsday?" Darwin said. "Do you mean you intend to drown everyone with a heavy rain?"

  "No, Mr. Darwin." answered Ossien. "A flood simply wouldn't be enough to cleanse this world. I've been cooperating with biological weapon traders in different eras, including my dear friend Sellars Nien, Karls – who passed away, unfortunately – and a guy called Whisk in the twenty-first century. Anyway, they have supplied me with abundant physical and financial resources. I have made great progress with my research, in which my ultimate goal is to create the most powerful creature, and it will truly be immortal." He grew excited as he said, "To avoid any detection by the TP – the time police – I chose to build a base in an era long before the existence of humans. And..." He looked directly at Silverstar and continued, "According to our intelligence, you are very interested in the animals here. What a pity! You, idiots from the twenty-first century, thought you had found new species! They, which you believe to be of muscle and sinew, are my guinea pigs!

  "What?" asked Runt, "You're a liar! What evidence do you have?"

  "Huh! Proof? Didn't you consider it somewhat strange?" Ossien replied, "Where on earth did you see the creatures like the huge bugs with such capability, intelligence and shape. As for the fire dragons, we created them from reptiles through genetic modification. Otherwise, what creature could mak
e a round trip from the earth to the outer space? We broke down the DNA of the original insect and edited it to create the fire dragon. In this ancient land, we farmed them first in this area but eventually they migrated. Now they occupy almost thirty percent of the land mass. But," continued Ossien with an evil smile, "the empire of gigantic insects was coming to an end."

  "You mean…" asked Runt after some consideration, "the evil star is coming?"

  "Yes!" said Ossien with a wry smile. "Here we have a mysterious shooting star from out of the immensity of the universe! It's composed of a great deal of poisonous material, which would be unknown even to the best scientists of the twenty-second century. This mysterious material carries radiation energy and an acid of a strength that mankind has never before encountered. This unnamed meteorite is approaching earth at an incredible speed. Its surface covers an area of seven square meters, and . . . you'll never guess. It is destined to impact the very place where we're standing!" Ossien went on with arms open, "To be exact, it will arrive in 12 hours, 36 minutes and 10 seconds from... now. It will destroy all living things here, but it will have absolutely no impact on the outside world."

  All of those present were shocked by what Ossien said. Darwin – who had recovered some of his strength through use of the rapid-recovery medicine – stood up and asked, "In this case, won't you be killed by the meteorite too?"

  Ossien answered defiantly: "No, I won't. We will not! In any case, I advise you not to interrupt! I haven't finished my story. Now... Oh, where was I? Oh, yes. Having secured enough funding from different eras, I came here to begin my research. However, I knew that human power would be essential, so..." With a smile that mixed evil and glee in equal measure, he said, "You probably have guessed correctly! To secure sufficient human power, I brought some of Hitler's soldiers along for the adventure. I gave them some elixir – APTX4869 – which I had obtained from a partner in the twentieth century. I improved the elixir, of course. Now, in return for their service I promised to allow them to board the "spaceship" after the success of my research, so that we could all realize our common dream. Am I right, Gioni?"