Dark Universe & Forbidden Love

by Hao Yang

  “Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” The blaring alarm echoed in the sewer.

  Mark ran for his life as the liquid started to fill the shaft. By the time he got out of the sewer and reached the hall, securities were evacuating the astronomy center. Mark blended into the flow of Ajiese and left the building.

  Chapter 10

  In the Guardian Fleet museum on Eva-1, second class species trainees were listening to Sistyen’s introduction of different vessels. The museum was actually a hangar the size of 20 football fields. Hundreds of spacecrafts and vessels from different eras were exhibited.

  Thinking how to get back Gloria’s necklace, Jason couldn’t care less about what Sistyen was saying. Lucis listened very carefully and checked on his watch occasionally to make sure he had everything in record. Erikon was looking at another vessel about 200 meters away. It was 900 meters long and 80 meters high, resembling the shape of a shark.

  “What is that, man?” Erikon wheezed to Jason.

  “That is… a good-looking spacecraft.” Jason said. He actually had no idea.

  “I can see that. I mean name or model.” Erikon said.

  “And what is in the kitchen on that ship.” Jason smirked.

  Even though Jason was looking at the vessel, he had no idea that Gloria was standing in the bridge of the vessel and staring at him right now. She and other Glycans were having a tour on Cruiser General Klizan. For first class species like Glycan, they could send 200 trainees to training center every year.

  “What are you looking at?” Klaycon asked gently as he stood next to Gloria. He had a square face, big brown eyes and a eagle nose. He was tall and bulky with long white hair reaching his muscular shoulders. Unlike female Glycans whose hair had different colors, all male Glycans’ hair was white.

  “Nothing.” Gloria said coldly without even looking at Klaycon.

  “It’s a nice vessel, isn’t it? Even if it was decommissioned.”

  “How do you feel stepping into the vessel named after your grandfather?” Gloria asked in a very cold way.

  “Pretty good and I will name a much better vessel with my name in the future.” Klaycon said proudly.

  Gloria didn’t say anything. She was thinking about her grandfather.

  “I wonder...” Klaycon didn’t finish, because he noticed Gloria turned away her head.

  “Klaycon, you are here! Come on, we are going to see the medical bay.” Another Glycan girl named Carila said hastily as she dragged Klaycon away. They were leaving the bridge.

  Gloria was on her own, following the group in the distance. She knew they didn’t like her. It was not because she was ugly or stupid. It was her family. Her grandfather used to be one of the high rank military officers in charge of Glycan armed forces. During UWII, he surrendered his fleet to Hylocans, which was considered by many as the biggest shame to all Glycans. As a result, Gloria was demeaned by others since she was a little girl. Her beautiful face and nice figure didn’t save her from discriminations and in some situation it made things worse.

  Gloria speeded up a little to catch the group. When she turned at the corner, she felt some sticky stuff fell on her head. Before she could lift her hand to get rid of it, the black sticky gel thing quickly cover her head and formed a tight film. Carila and six other Glycan girls emerged from a nearby compartment and rushed to Gloria. Carila was tall and busty with an oval-shaped face and sharp green eyes. Gloria could hear the heavy steps, then she felt pain everywhere. The seven girls surrounded Gloria, punching and kicking her all over her body. Gloria slumped on the deck. But those girls didn’t stop and continued to beat her for the next several minutes. Then two girls picked up Gloria’s hands and held them behind her back. Carila tied the hands with a laser rope.

  “Ah, aaaah.” Gloria screamed in pain. The laser rope cut into her wrists and even the slightest movement led to extremely sharp pain.

  “Help! Help! Help!” Gloria yelled at the top of her lung, purple blood spewing out of her wrists.

  Carila and other girls picked Gloria up and carried her to a lower deck. They stopped in front of a food stock compartment.

  “Swoosh.” The door slid open. They threw her into the compartment.

  Gloria hit hard on the deck. The impact on her head almost knocked her out. Slowly, she tried to sit up, but the pain kept her still. She heard laughter and giggles. Then the door slammed closed.

  Chapter 11

  “Wake up.” Erikon whispered as he nudged Jason.

  Jason raised his head. He couldn’t believe that he fell asleep while standing and he also couldn’t believe that Sistyen was still talking.

  “We save the best to the last.” Sistyen shouted and led students to the vessel Jason and Erikon talked about before.

  Looking just like a great white shark, the vessel began with a large conical scout and slowly narrowed down from the middle part and finished with a vertical tail. The vessel rested on its four fins and the fin on its top almost touched the ceiling of the museum.

  “This is the Cruiser General Klizan. It is one of the 24 super vessels built by nine species during UWII. Under its hull, it gathered each species’ ultimate weapon. There are six cruisers just like this one. Remember, the 24 vessels formed the backbone of Guardian Fleet when it was just erected. This particular one in front of you was the last one leaving the service. It was decommissioned 40 years ago.” Sistyen explained proudly to all students as they marveled at its magnificence.

  “It was designed by the greatest scientists and engineers from nine species at the time and constructed by Diilre.”

  “Then how nine species decided which one to operate the vessel?” One trainee interrupted Sistyen.

  “Well, at that time, superace operated all 24 vessels. But that’s not the point. Let’s …”

  “Who is superace?” Another trainee asked.

  “We will not discuss that here. That kind of thing won’t be in the exam anyway.” Sistyen said firmly.

  “They should know.” A gruff voice struck everyone and a Glycan walked out of the shade of the vessel. Wearing a black uniform, he was seven feet tall, medium build, with sharp brown eyes on his square face. His name is Kalan, one of the nine generals in Guardian Fleet operation committee. Behind him, there were two other officers. One was an Estian, wearing a dark red uniform. His name was Geijoa, the new Estian general in operation committee. The other one was also a Glycan wearing a green uniform which indicated that his rank was much lower. As they walked closer, Sistyen and all trainees saluted them. Kalan kept a cold face and motioned Sistyen to step aside.

  “At the late stage of UWII, nine species produced a species that combined the advantages of each species using genetic modification and mutation. They were the superace. Any question?” Kalan said.

  “What happened to them when the war was over?” Jason asked.

  “When they were designed, their life-span was set for a certain range, so they simply passed away.” Kalan said.

  “How many they made?” Orizy asked.

  “10,000 units were constructed and around 2,500 died in UWII.” Kalan said.

  “If they are the most brilliant one, why they couldn’t save themselves?” Another trainee, a Tizuee, asked.

  “You better ask them.” Kalan said ironically.

  “Why we are not allowed to step into this cruiser?” Idi asked gently, her voice weak and soft.

  “Because that is the way it is.” Kalan said coldly.

  All trainees casted their eyes down. They all knew what Kalan meant. They were second class species. No matter what you did and where you were, you were still second class species.

  “Take them away.” Kalan said to Sistyen.

  “Yes, sir.” Sistyen said as he saluted Kalan.

  As the trainees headed to the exit, Glycans came out of the cruiser in groups. Jason glanced over at those Glycans and suddenly had the desire to get into the cruiser. He nudged Erikon and Lucis and winked at them. They slowly dropped to the end of the line. When S
istyen was looking at others, they swiftly darted to the cruiser and ran inside.

  “This is crazy. I have a feeling one day you will get us in trouble.” Lucis said seriously as he was following Jason.

  “Take it easy. Nobody knows we are here.” Jason said easily as he checked the interior. It was smooth and seamless. There was no screw, welding or connecting section. It felt that the vessel grew from inside to outside as a whole body.

  “How they built this thing? Where are we going anyway?” Lucis asked curiously.

  “I don’t know.” Jason said.

  “I think we are heading to the engine room.” Erikon said.

  “And how do you know that?” Jason said.

  “Just a feeling. You know I like engine and mechanic stuff.”

  “I know you like food.” Lucis said and everyone smiled.

  After 10 minutes, they arrived at a transparent door. It was very thin and made by some kind of liquid. On the other side, there was the dark engine. A huge black glob of liquid was suspending in the air, with three red spheres cycling around it. A flow of black liquid kept going into the black glob as another flow of red liquid came out and formed a red sphere.

  “That is the dark engine. I read it somewhere saying the red spheres are the transformers and the black thing is the extractor. The liquid going into the black thing circulates in the hull and extracts the dark energy from the surrounding.” Erikon said.

  “Man, you need to share with me your reading list.” Jason said.

  “Why is it on? This thing should be turned off a long time ago.” Lucis said.

  “They probably turned it on for those Glycan trainees.” Jason said as he looked around.

  “Beautiful.” Erikon said as he reached out to the door. Just before he touched it, Jason caught his hand.

  “Don’t. See that.” Jason said seriously as he pointed the vortex on the door.

  “What is going on, man?” Erikon asked in confusion.

  “That is for the key. You have to have the right crystal to open the door.” Jason said calmly.

  “Come on, man. Don’t be pussy.” Erikon said.

  “OK.” Jason said as he took a cookie from Erikon’s pocket.

  “Watch this.” Jason said and threw the cookie to the liquid door. The moment the cookie passed the door, millions of bugs flooded into the room in a blink and the cookie was gone before it could land on the floor.

  Erikon was shocked.

  “That is Yayi. The only living thing on planet Egewe.” Lucis said.

  “Man, thank you.” Erikon said, his voice shaking.

  “Let’s go.” Jason said.

  They moved on and checked other compartments such as weapon bay, medical bay, communication center and so on. As they walked into the kitchen, Jason noticed some purple liquid on the deck. He stopped there, checking the liquid.

  “What is that, Jason?” Erikon asked as he checked every drawer.

  “Looks like Glycan’s blood.” Jason said as he dipped his finger into the liquid.

  “They still keep food here, for a vessel like this? Erikon, don’t eat that. It could be more than fifty years old.” Lucis said as he saw Eirkon stuff food into his pockets.

  “Hey vampire, I know you don’t like food. That is why we call you vampire.” Erikon joked.

  “Jason, what are you looking for?” Lucis asked as he saw Jason scouring the floor.

  “The blood is fresh. There could be more. Look around.” Jason said.

  Lucis and Erikon joined Jason, searching the kitchen.

  “Here, here.” Lucis shouted. Jason and Erikon ran to Lucis. They followed the blood trail to a door.

  On the other side of the door, Gloria was frightened as she heard the tread of steps again, her body trembling, her breathe shortening. All of a sudden, the door opened. Someone stepped in and then she felt a gentle touch on her right shoulder.

  The moment the door slid open Jason knew it was Gloria because of the aroma from her body. But he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t believe Glycans did this to their own kind. He took out his knife and cut loose the laser rope. Gloria’s hands were shaking and her wrists were bleeding. Just before Jason cut open the film wrapping her head, Lucis pulled his shoulder. Jason turned back and saw Lucis shaking his head. He understood what he meant. They were not supposed to be here. If others found out, they would be in big trouble. He put the knife in Gloria’s hand and then ran away with Lucis and Erikon.

  Gloria couldn’t believe what just happened. She held the knife for a long while, and then she used it and removed the film. She was in great pain, but she was happy. She stumbled out of the compartment, heading to the exit of the vessel.

  Chapter 12

  Economics was getting worse. At first, the company decreased the working time from six days to four days for half of the mine workers. But now all mine workers were working four days. The housing fee also increased, which led to a protest on the mine site. But the protest didn’t change anything except most protesters were fired. Mark didn’t participate the protest. He spent some time sorting out the data he got from Hselel Astronomy Center. The first several days didn’t yield anything and he started to worry that the telescope was not able to see the vessel when it used space bending to travel. Just before he gave up, he found it and it was Cruiser General Klizan. The cruiser only appeared in the scope for about one second, but he could clearly see it passing through the location indicated by the tracer at the time the transmission was sent. Mark couldn’t understand why someone used Cruiser General Klizan. It did have special shield over its hull, but the shield was designed to bypass Hylocan’s deep space detectors in UWII. Mark tried to found out where the vessel headed, but it went beyond the range of the telescope. He really hoped he had downloaded observation records of the nearby telescopes. He knew he couldn’t go back there and there was no way he could get close to that cruiser. He thought about it for several days and finally decided to ask Jason for help.

  Jason got a message from his father. Nothing stood out except two encrypted sentences which reminded Jason the old days in the preselection institution. Back then everyone was nice and they got so close that they even read each other’s family messages. It was then his father Mark came up with an encryption method to deliver the sentence just for Jason.

  “Just like the old day.” Jason said to himself as he quickly decoded the sentences and it read “Check the navigation record of Cruiser General Klizan. Be careful.”

  Jason was confused. To his best knowledge, the cruiser was kept in the museum all the time. Suddenly he recalled the food Erikon found in the cruiser. That meant someone did use the cruiser recently.

  Jason waited until midnight and sneaked into the museum. It was much easier than going to the Glycan’s library. He learnt his lesson and was wearing a mask this time.

  It was dark and quiet in the museum. Several robots were sweeping the floor. Jason ran to the port side of the cruiser, looking for the door he used last time. But he couldn’t find it. The surface was smooth like silk with no crack, groove or line. He then checked the starboard side and the bottom. There was no entrance. Baffled and tired, Jason sat down under the vessel.

  “I couldn’t even get in.” He sighed as he wondered how to explain this to his father. After sitting there for a while, he decided to come back tomorrow. He slowly stood up. Just at this moment, he noticed a man-shaped shadow appeared on the floor near the window. But he didn’t see anyone. Then the shadow moved away from the window and disappeared. Jason held his breath and listened carefully. He could hear it was coming close to the port side of the vessel. Then it stopped. A masked Dolanz appeared on the floor from nowhere. It checked the surrounding cautiously and took out a necklace. Jason recognized that necklace right away. It was Gloria’s necklace. Then Jason realised that it was Sistyen, the history teacher.

  A door showed up as Sistyen put the necklace close to the hull of the cruiser. He looked around carefully and got inside. Jason rushed t
o the door and jumped in before it closed.

  The inside was pitch black. Jason closed his eyes and followed the sound of Sistyen’s steps. He could tell Sistyen knew the vessel very well because his steps were fast and steady. Suddenly he heard some robotic voice and then all the lights went on. After his eyes got used to the light, he saw an entrance to a spacious compartment. Jason slowly walked to the entrance, hid behind the doorway and peeked inside. It was the bridge of the cruiser. Sistyen was standing in the center and holding the necklace over his head. The necklace slowly flew towards the ceiling and the crystal landed into a slot on the ceiling.

  “Bridge access granted. All systems initiated.” A robotic voice echoed in the bridge.

  “This is it.” Jason said to himself as he adjusted the mask to make sure it covered his face.

  Sistyen sat down on a chair. Jason took a deep breath and darted into the bridge. Sistyen saw Jason coming at him. While he was hauling out the gun, Jason punched him on the face. Sistyen fell over the chair and slumped on the floor, but at the same time, he got his gun out.

  “Lights off.” Jason yelled as he saw Sistyen aim the gun at him.

  Now it was pitch black. Jason stood still and held his breath. He knew the crystal was right above him. But if he retrieved the crystal now, he would expose himself. He heard Sistyen moving closer, but he didn’t know Sistyen’s exact position. He lowered his body, ready to sprint out. He knew when the lights went back on, he only got one shot.

  “Lights on.” Sistyen shouted. Before he could fire the gun, Jason charged and grabbed him on the waist. Both of them plunged on the deck and rolled off the center platform. Sistyen dropped the gun. Jason kicked away Sistyen and quickly got up on his feet, running to the gun. Sistyen stood up and ran to the doorway. When Jason picked up the gun, Sistyen had gone. Jason let out a long sigh and removed his mask. He stumbled back to the center platform and said, “Navigation record.”