by Hao Yang
Jason slowly exited the cubicle and headed towards the vent. While running, he couldn’t help but turn back to check the girl. Right at this moment, he hit a table and slumped on the ground. The noise alerted the girl. She quickly turned around, stood up and dashed to Jason. As she was closing to Jason, her Glycan uniform transforming into an armor suit. Jason got on his feet swiftly. The girl stopped about two meters away from Jason. Because of her helmet, Jason could only see her eyes. They were like autumn sky.
“A second species. How did you get here?” The Glycan girl shouted angrily.
“You don’t need to remind me I am a second species.” Jason said easily as he glanced back at the vent.
“Answer the question!” The Glycan girl said firmly.
“Well, you see, behind you.” Jason said as he darted to the vent. But he didn’t fool her. She caught up with him, reaching out to grab his shoulder. Jason heard her coming behind him. He quickly turned around throwing a punch at her.
“Bam!” Jason’s right fist hit the chest armor.
The girl backed off a little bit and swiftly regained her balance. She returned a kick aiming at Jason’s chest. Jason leaned back and dodged the kick. His right fist hurt like hell. The armor was very hard.
“Look! I don’t want to hurt you.” Jason said slowly as he fondled his right fist.
“Who is hurting right now?” The girl said as she pointed at Jason’s fist, her armor glowing in yellow.
“You ask for it.” Jason shouted as he dashed at her. He dodged her punches and caught her on the waist. The girl hammered his back with her fists, but Jason didn’t let it go. He kept pushing her backwards and they both fell over. Jason was on the top, holding her arms and pressing them against the girl.
“Clank.” A dagger busted out of her right fist. It almost cut into Jason’s face.
“That was close.” Jason said angrily.
The girl pushed the dagger towards Jason’s neck, its blade shining in red. Jason held off the dagger. Slowly, he overpowered the girl and directed the dagger to the girl’s neck. The girl turned her head away as the blade was getting closer and closer.
“Are we done?” Jason asked just before the blade touched the neck armor.
The girl stared at Jason furiously without uttering a sound.
“OK, taste your own blade.” Jason said as he pushed the blade further. The tip of the blade cut into the neck armor, striking out sparks.
“Yes. Yes. We are done.” The girl yelled desperately.
“What?” Jason asked with a grin.
“We are done.” The girl shouted in a begging tone as her helmet disappeared.
Now Jason was able to see her clearly. She had a heart-shaped face with soft lips and crystal blue eyes on silk like white skin. Jason couldn’t take his eyes off her. Then he smelled the aroma from her body. It was rich and strong. He felt like laying in a garden filled with blooming flowers.
“Get off me! You second species!” The girl yelled.
“I told you. You don’t need to remind me of that! Remember who is in control here.” Jason pushed the dagger closer, touching the armor again.
The girl stayed still and didn’t say another word. Jason gazed at her face and noticed the dried tracks of tears. He recalled she was crying earlier.
“If I let you go, you don’t say a word about what happened here.” Jason said in a hard voice.
“We will see.” The girl didn’t give in.
Jason knew he would be dead if what happened tonight went public. He wasn’t the first one sneaking around. Two trainees from second class species were killed because of trespassing before. That aside, fighting with a Glycan would surely make him famous in the most unwanted way. As Jason was thinking repercussions, he noticed the necklace the girl was wearing. He quickly restrained her two arms. The girl was frightened and struggled to free herself. However, Jason held her nice and tight. All of a sudden, he grasped the necklace and then pulled it off her neck.
“No! No! Please give it to me.” The girl begged.
Jason stood up leisurely with the necklace in hand.
“Please give it to me. Please.”
“We will see. If you say anything, you will never get it back.” Jason said casually as he put the necklace into his pocket. Then he ran to the vent.
“You...” The girl shouted as she struggled on her feet. Jason disappeared into the vent.
Chapter 7
“What took you this long?” Erikon said as Jason joined them in the morning class.
“Are you alright?” Lucis asked.
“I am fine. Just a little sleepy. You know, try to get more sleep after you guys got up.” Jason said tiredly as he sat down. When he got back to the dorm, it was almost morning. He only slept two hours.
“Tell you what, the exam is coming.” Lucis said seriously.
“Oh, man, why you bring this up?” Erikon sighed.
Jason was about to ask something but he stopped as the teacher, a Dolanz named Sistyen, walked into the room. Sistyen looked around at the class. There were five study groups in the room and each group had seven students.
“Attention.” Sistyen said loudly.
Hearing this, every student stood on their feet and saluted Sistyen.
“Sit. Last time we finished the chapter, First Universe War (UWI). Today we will start a new chapter, Second Universe War (UWII). Please put on your neuro projector.” Sistyen said slowly.
In the training center, every trainee had a watch which functioned as communicator and information projector. The watch came with a sticker on its back. When trainees attached the sticker on the forehead, they could read information directly in the brain. Teachers like Sistyen really liked this information delivery system. Because even if some trainees didn’t like the contents, they still saw it in the brain unless they removed the sticker.
“Let’s get started.” Sistyen said as he pressed the controller and sent the class material to everyone.
“The Second Universe War (UWII) happened 121 years ago and raged 37 years. The war resulted in the loss of 21 billion lives which included the extinction of three intelligent species, destructions of 32 planets and unmeasurable property damages. All known species were involved in UWII. At the early stage of the war…”
Jason was tired. He couldn’t go on anymore. He felt like his brain was going to explode if he continue to have information poured into his brain. While peeking at Sistyen, he covered his forehead with one hand and removed the sticker. Then he took out the necklace from his chest pocket. It had a dark blue crystal in the middle of the yellow color shining chain. The crystal had flat surfaces and sharp edges. Given its color, it must come from a very old Glycan.
“What is this?” Jason asked himself as he gazed at the crystal. He was so focused on it that he didn’t notice Sistyen had been standing next to him for several seconds.
“Got you.” Sistyen shouted as he grabbed the necklace.
Caught off guard, Jason was shocked.
“Come to my office after class.” Sistyen said coldly as he headed to the front of the room.
Jason let out a quiet sigh.
After 40 minutes, class was over.
“Jason, we need to talk about the paper.” Sayilin shouted to Jason.
“Sorry, man, I need to go to Sistyen’s office.” Jason said and shrugged his shoulder.
“I saw that. Man, you just don’t follow the rule, do you?” Sayilin said ironically.
“See you later.” Jason said hastily as he headed out.
On the way to Systyen’s office, Jason was pondering how to explain his possession of the necklace. Soon he arrived at the door of Systyen’s office which was on the second floor of the academic training complex. Jason took a deep breath and then pressed the doorbell button. He knew Sistyen could see him from the other side.
“Swoosh.” The door slid open.
Jason walked in and saw Sistyen sitting in a chair and holding the necklace.
“
Jason Marton.” Sistyen said with a straight face.
“Yes, sir.” Jason said as he saluted him.
“Where did you get this?” Sistyen asked as he played with the necklace.
“It was from a friend.”
“You have a Glycan friend?”
“Yea, but not really a very close one.” Jason said easily.
“What is the name of your friend?”
“That is private.”
“Huh, do you even know what this is?” Sistyen said in a disdainful voice.
“It is a necklace.” Jason replied calmly.
“All right. Whatever. You want it the hard way. That is fine with me. Originally, I planned to give it back to you. But you are not telling me the truth. I will keep it until you change your mind. Dismiss.” Sistyen said coldly and motioned Jason to leave.
Jason left the room. He wasn’t really worried about it, even though he kind of felt bad for the Glycan girl.
Chapter 8
Later Jason joined the study group to discuss what he got from Glycan’s library. The other six members were very impressed. Titainein even questioned whether he had a Glycan friend. Jason joked about the source and others just let it be. At the end of the meeting, they decided that Jason should get more materials for the paper.
At night, Jason sneaked out and headed to Glycan’s library as usual. But this time, he smelled a familiar aroma just before he entered the library through the vent. While he was thinking about it, he noticed a shadow in front of the vent. All of a sudden, he recalled that the aroma was from the girl. Jason smiled quietly as he slowly took off his uniform. Then he threw the uniform out of the shaft and sprinted out of the vent. The girl hit the uniform and Jason just missed it.
“Nice try.” Jason said happily as he stood up on his feet.
“Give me the necklace.” The girl said decisively.
“You want to do this again? Really?” Jason giggled.
“Give it to me.” The girl said as she flashed the dagger.
“Come and get it.” Jason said in a hard voice.
The girl thrust the dagger at Jason’s chest. Jason shifted to the right and caught her arm. As he was pulling the arm, he extended his foot to kick her belly. To dodge the kick, the girl lost her balance. Jason threw her forward, but the girl didn’t fall over. She stumbled several steps, turned around and swung the dagger to Jason’s head. Jason stepped back and knocked on the edge of a table. The girl darted to him, thrusting the dagger at his head. Jason hauled out a chair and threw it to the girl as he ran forward.
“Clack.” The girl slashed the chair in half. But the distance between her and Jason was too close for her to take another swipe. Sliding on the floor, Jason seized the girl’s feet, his legs clasping them like pliers. He pulled his leg, dragged the girl on the floor and twisted her feet, making her face the floor. Then Jason jumped on her back, holding her arms on each side of her body. The girl kicked the floor with her feet, but Jason was too heavy for her. Now the girl was completely trapped, her front armors pressing hard against the floor.
“Do we need to do this every time?” Jason asked easily.
“Let me go.” The girl yelled. Even though Jason didn’t hear her clearly, he could tell what she wanted. He got up and freed her hands. The girl turned around slowly and sat up.
“You want to try again?” Jason asked coldly.
The girl didn’t say anything, her armor transforming back to clothes. She was wearing a white suit, accompanied by white shoes. There was a Glycan family badge on her right chest.
Jason remembered reading something about Glycan family badge. He knew every Glycan had one and the one the girl was wearing had the flame like decoration.
“So you are from family G. What’s your name?” Jason said kindly.
“Please give back the necklace.” The girl said, her voice shaking.
“Tell me your name, please.”
“Gloria.”
“Gloria, nice to meet you.” Jason said nicely.
“Please give it back to me. I won’t say anything.” Gloria said.
“I don’t have it with me right now.” Jason sighed. He really hoped a beautiful girl like her would like him. But given what they had gone through, it would never happen.
They fell into silence for several seconds.
“I promise you I will give it back to you. Please trust me!. Now if you excuse me, I need to check some information for my homework.” Jason said firmly. He went to a small cubicle and started working. Jason knew the girl was standing outside, so he kept the door open.
“That crystal you have can only give you very limited access.” Gloria said as she stood behind Jason.
“Is that right?” Jason asked as he turned around.
“All Glycans can generate crystals in their bodies. Some crystals take much longer to form, which make them more valuable. Yours are the lowest level.” Gloria said.
“OK. Then next time I will ask my Glycan friend to give me some better ones.” Jason said ironically.
“That won’t work. Even if that Glycan gave you his best crystal, you still have the limited access.” Gloria explained.
“What is your point?” Jason asked impatiently.
“Nothing.”
“If you can’t help, you are wasting my time. And please don’t say stuff like that, nobody likes it.” Jason said unhappily.
“I am not trying to make you like me.” Gloria said in a hard voice.
“That is fine. I am not going to like you anyway. You know what? I can tell nobody likes you.”
“Really? Amazing! How do you know that?” Gloria asked in a provocative tone.
“At least I know you don’t have any friend. If you do, I won’t win this time.” Jason said calmly. Gloria gave Jason an angry stare and stormed off.
“I shouldn’t say that.” Jason sighed.
Chapter 9
Mark had been working on the new assignment. He still worked as a mine worker, but since the company cut his working hours, he made good use of his free time. He found his way into the aviation room in the Latianium transport station. There he was able to access the network used by the UG aviation control center. The transmissions sent by the tracer indicated locations and travel time. Through cross referencing those data with the navigation records, Mark found the vessel carrying the eyeball. But after the vessel took a stop on Eva-1, Mark lost it. He assumed that someone switched the original vessel to a military vessel which couldn’t be tracked by civilian aviation system. Apparently, after the switch, the tracer was still working, so Mark planned to find out which military vessel was used to transport those eyeballs. Then he could dig out the flight plan and figure out the destination.
Right now Mark was on the way to planet Fslei, the mother planet of Ajiese. Ajiese was one of the nine species and they were well known for their insane interest in astronomy. They had been developing the most sophisticated telescope system that contained 25 million telescopes with capability of detecting full electromagnetic spectrum. They were scattered everywhere and to the farthest point Ajiese could travel to. The system was so powerful that even if a vessel was travelling in the wormhole, it still could see the vessel. Mark believed that the telescope near the last location indicated by the tracer should be able to see the vessel.
After touching down on Fslei, Mark put on a face transformer and now he looked just like an Ajiese. He headed directly to Hselel Astronomy Center where Ajiese stored all telescope observation records. The entrance was at the bottom of a huge telescope which was eight million years old. Mark bought a ticket and joined the line, moving towards the entrance slowly.
Several minutes later, Mark entered the center. The inside was magnificent, its ceiling 100 meters high, its floor the size of ten football fields. All kinds of telescopes were exhibited on the floor, on the wall and in the air. Mark didn’t have the appetite to look around. He quickly focused his attention on finding the way to the data center. He went to the basement wher
e he got into the sewer system. In a shaft, dozens of pipes ran so deep into the ground that Mark couldn’t see the bottom. He fixed a gravity grab on one of the pipes and lowered himself into the shaft. He knew the data center was buried deep in the ground. Using the gravity grab, Mark lowered himself to the bottom where all pipes started to run horizontally. Following the pipes, he walked to a dead end, a thick wall. He took out a pair of X-ray goggles and located quite a few cylinders clustered on the other side of the wall. Those cylinders contained Ajiese brain cells modified by cell infusion to store data. Mark applied Laiehe bacteria on one pipe that he found empty for the moment. Mark bought those bacteria on M13 and they were also called metal eater. It took less than ten seconds for them to carve a big hole on the pipe. Mark crawled into the pipe, passed the wall and made another big hole to get off on the other side.
Thousands of cylinders were cramped in the room.
“This will take forever.” Mark murmured as he marveled at those cylinders. He quickly took out the scanner he brought with him and started working. He knew when the pipe was flooded, Ajiese would found the breach.
One hour had passed and Mark still didn’t locate the cylinder. But he found something else, the information of the missing Hylocan girl. Unlike other Hylocans borned on the Hylocan reserve, she was from somewhere else. When Uainanese found the girl, she still had her original eyes and mind-reading ability. After Uainanese captured her, they transferred her to Eva-1. After that she just vanished without a trace.
“Where did she go?” Mark asked himself. He wasn’t sure whether there was any connection between this Hylocan girl and those missing Hylocan eyeballs.
After another hour, he finally found the cylinder that stored the observation records. Just when he started duplicating cells to transfer the data, he heard the clatter sound from the pipe.
“Come on! Come on!” He said quietly as he stared at the duplication process. The clatter sound was getting louder and louder and he could even hear the bubbling. Right before the blue liquid flooded the room, the duplication process was complete. Mark climbed into the pipe and got out on the other side.