by Hao Yang
Everyone was heading to the engine. As Idi turned off radar, she and others had no idea that one Glycan vessel was approaching planet Etitaeg right now.
Chapter 28
When Klaycon saw the whole planet was now under black clouds, he was angry at himself. He hesitated too long. When he finally asked Nissen to establish communication with other vessels to find Gloria, he was shocked that Gloria was not on any of them. He immediately had the vessel fly back to Etitaeg. Right now, he was standing in the bridge, accompanied by Nissen, Didian, Zier and other four Glycans.
“Scan the planet for Gloria’s crystal.” Klaycon said in a worried voice.
“Yes.” Didian said as he started the scan.
As Klaycon was waiting for the result, Carila ran into the bridge with an angry look.
“Why we come back? We…”
Klaycon suddenly grasped Carila’s neck and lifted her up from the deck. Then he thrusted her at the window.
“BAM!” Carila hit the window and slumped on the ground.
“Anyone else?!” Klaycon asked furiously as he looked around the bridge. Others in the bridge lowered their heads.
“The scan is done and no result for Gloria’s crystal.” Didian said.
“You came all the way back to find Gloria?” Carila asked angrily.
Klaycon didn’t even look at Carila. All he was thinking now was Gloria. He was tapping his feet nervously and thinking other possibilities.
“May I suggest scan for Gloria’s family badge?” Zier asked coldly.
“Scan it.” Klaycon ordered.
Didian ran the scan and it returned with a hit. Klaycon was surprised and shouted, “Proceed to the location.”
The vessel entered Etitaeg’s atmosphere, penetrating layers of clouds. As it approached the location, Klaycon and others saw something that they could only imagine in their wildest dreams. A tentacle was grabbing a Human and lifting him into the air.
“It’s a human. It’s a human!” Didian said in shock.
“That is where the badge is?” Klaycon asked in confusion.
“Yes. Unbelievable!” Didian said in a doubting voice.
As they got closer, Klaycon was able to tell that the Human was wearing the Guardian Fleet trainee uniform.
“He is from Guardian Fleet.” Klaycon muttered.
“How can that be possible?” Zier asked.
“Are you sure he is carrying the family badge?” Nissen asked in surprise.
“Yes. The signal is coming from him.” Didian said as he double checked the result.
“Stop the vessel.” Klaycon ordered.
The vessel was now suspending 200 meters over Jason’s head.
Jason saw the vessel while stabbing the tentacles with the daggers. For a second, he was thinking his friends were coming back for him, but then he realized that it was a different one. After stabbing over twenty times on the tentacle squeezing his waist, the tentacle finally released Jason. While Jason was falling, another tentacle grabbed him. Then a huge head attached with hundreds of tentacles slowly emerged from the ground. It pulled Jason close to its big green eyes.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” Jason yelled, aiming his daggers at its eyes. Before he could threw them, the head suddenly split in half and a huge mouth dotted with millions of teeth was stretching out of it, roaring at Jason. The mouth was so huge that it could swallow more than 10 Jason at one time. The tentacle swung Jason around and threw him into the mouth.
Klaycon and others watched the monster swallow Jason in one piece.
“Klaycon, we should at least get the badge.” Nissen said.
“We can wait. That shouldn’t take long.” Klaycon said coldly.
“If we save him, we can find out how he got the badge. Maybe he knows something about Gloria.” Didian said.
“That is possible.” Klaycon nodded.
“I don’t suggest that. Let him come aboard will cause a lot of problems.” Zier said calmly.
“I...” Klaycon stopped as he noticed the monster was acting like it was in great pain. It repeatedly crashed its head against the ground and slashed its own body with tentacles. It was howling desperately, its body twitching, trying to throw up something. All of a sudden, its head plumped on the ground and all its tentacles lost steam.
While Klaycon was wondering what just happened to the monster, a dagger busted out of the monster’s skull, followed by a second dagger moving in a circle. Then Jason broke through the skull and climbed out of its head, covered in its brain tissues. He stood there, screaming at the top of his lung. Other nearby monsters slowly retreated back to ground.
Klaycon and others were shocked. Not only had they never seen anything like this before, but also had never heard anyone that was able to kill a monster on a selection planet. They froze there, their eyes bulging and their mouths opened. After several seconds, they started to understand what just happened. Klaycon shook his head and recompose himself. Zier was still trembling. Didian twisted his jaw. Nissen was clenching the arms of his chair. Other Glycans in the bridge looked like they just woke up from terrifying nightmares.
“Bring him aboard. I need to ask him about the badge.” Klaycon said firmly, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
“You mean send someone down there?” Nissen said, his voice shaking.
“Yes, right now!” Klaycon shouted angrily.
“There are monsters down there.” Nissen said in a worried tone. He never questioned Klaycon’s words before.
“In this case, monsters will be the second concern.” Zier said reluctantly.
“Klaycon, with all respect, I...I don’t think anyone should go down there.” Didian said hesitatingly.
“The guy only has two knives!” Klaycon shouted.
“We all saw what he could do with two knives.” Nissen said gently.
“May I suggest using onboard weapon to stun him?” Zier asked politely.
For a second, Klaycon was thinking about going down there on his own, but he quickly scrapped that idea before anyone noticed his hesitation. He nodded at Zier.
The vessel started firing at Jason and captured him eventually.
Chapter 29
Jason found himself restrained in a small compartment, his feet fixed on the deck and his hands tied behind him. He could stand up, but couldn’t move a step. When he tunneled through the monster’s brain, his body was soaked in its brain tissue fluid. Now the fluid was penetrating into his skin and he felt like thousands of bugs licking him simultaneously.
The door suddenly slid open and Klaycon, Nissen, Dilian and Zier stepped into the compartment. They stood right in front of Jason, looking at him in disdain.
“How did you get a Glycan’s family badge?” Klaycon asked coldly.
“I picked it up somewhere.” Jason said easily.
“Where did you pick it up?” Klaycon asked.
“I don’t remember.” Jason said carelessly.
“How did you get on Etitaeg?” Zier asked.
“I was travelling.” Jason said.
All four Glycans laughed loudly.
“We can do it in an easy way or a hard way.” Klaycon said slowly, crashing each word.
“OK.” Jason said as he leaned forward. Suddenly he thrusted his body upwards, darting his head at Klaycon. Klaycon dodged back, but still hit by Jason’s head. He stumbled back several steps and held on to the wall. Didian, Nissen and Zier were shocked at this sudden attack.
Klaycon regained his balance and swung his fist at Jason’s face. Jason leaned back and ducked the blow, but that was all he could do. The next blow hit on his right cheek, followed by another one on his left cheek. It kept going like this for a minute.
When Klaycon stopped to take a break, Zier patted Klaycon on his shoulder and motioned him to go outside. The four Glycans went outside and shut the door behind them.
“Are you alright?” Nissen asked Klaycon.
“Fuck off!” Klaycon shouted angrily.
“Why the fuck we need to step outside?” Klaycon snarled at Zier.
“If he is not with Guardian Fleet, we can just kill him. Nobody cares.” Zier said coldly.
“Then let’s throw him back to the planet. Let those monsters kill him.” Nissen said quickly.
“I am not sure he will be killed that way, you know.” Didian said disappointedly.
“First, if he survived on that planet, we will be in big trouble. Second, if he was killed on that planet, we will be responsible for his death.” Zier said calmly.
“Why are we responsible for his death?” Nissen asked in confusion.
“Because we brought him aboard. You idiot!” Klaycon yelled.
“Sorry.” Nissen said as he casted his eyes down.
“That is why I told you it would cause a lot of problems.” Zier said unhappily.
“Shut up! What do you suggest then?” Klaycon asked impatiently.
“The way I see it, he might be a spy who was sent here to collect intelligence.”
“And how do you explain Gloria’s family badge?” Klaycon asked.
“That is truth. Something is missing here.” Zier said.
“I am thinking how he got here. He is from the training center. The second species don’t have access to the hangars.” Didian said.
“I will have someone check the hangars just in case.” Klaycon said.
“May I suggest checking the museum as well?” Zier said.
“You mean they took one of those antiques?” Nissen asked.
“Well. You never know. Does he kill the monster make any sense to you? It just happened. I will talk to my sister to check those things.” Klaycon said.
“What about this human?” Didian asked.
“We should bring him to the selection committee on our mother planet Sylareon. He will be tried and punished for his behavior.” Zier said.
“Let’s go to the assembly planet first, we are already running late. Then I will take him to Sylareon and talk to my grandfather about this matter.” Klaycon said hastily. The assembly planet was the destination of all space vessels taking off from the finishing line. On that planet, all participants would go through some evaluations to see if they have any physical and mental issues after the selection.
“Didian, set the course for the assembly planet. Zier, torture this human and found out what he knows about Gloria’s family badge.” Klaycon said.
Didian ran to the bridge and engaged the dark engine.
Right at this moment, Erikon, Lucis and others on the cruiser just finished fixing the leak and everyone of them was exhausted.
As Erikon restarted the dark engine, others ran back to the bridge.
“Scan the planet for G family badge! Hurry!” Gloria said quickly. She took some medicine and now she was able to walk slowly.
Orizy ran the scan. Everyone held their breath and stared at the screen.
“No hit.” Orizy said sadly, casting his eyes down.
Overwhelmed by remorse, Gloria busted into tears. Lucis froze in the chair, covering his face in hands. Sayilin knew if he had eyes, he would cry just like Gloria did. Erikon collapsed in the engine room, screaming in sorrow. Idi and Titainein both cried.
The great grief choked Gloria and suffocated her. She breathed heavily with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Orizy, run it again.” Titainein said as she held back her tears.
It returned with same result.
“Scan the planet for his watch!” Titiainein said.
“Nothing.” Orizy said sadly.
“Go to the spot where he found me.” Gloria said slowly. She knew the odds was slim, because even if the family badge malfunctioned, the scanner still could picked up its signal. But if it was crashed, there wouldn’t be anything.
The vessel speeded through clouds and suspended above the location where Gloria was trapped. Thousands of monsters thronged the ground, fighting with each other. They tore dead ones into pieces and consumed them. Everyone knew it was too late. No one could survive in this situation. But they didn’t give up and searched the surrounding area for hours.
“Sayilin, he is gone. It’s too late.” Lucis said sadly.
“It’s all your fault! It’s all your fault!” Idi yelled at Gloria.
Gloria didn’t say a word. She crouched down on the deck, burying her face in her arms.
“Idi, when he jumped out of the ship, he knew it.” Sayilin said in grief.
“Guys, we have to go. We have to finish what Jason started.” Titainein said as she looked around at everyone. She knew this was a hard decision.
“Gloria, where you should go after the selection?” Titainein asked gently.
“Gloria, we have tried everything.” Sayilin said slowly.
“Planet Arigie, Sextans supercluster.” Gloria said with tears running down her face.
Sayilin drove the cruiser into space, heading to Arigie.
Chapter 30
Glycan’s armed forces had two parts: the offensive department and the defensive department. The offensive department was in charge of all military activities outside Sylareon. The Defensive Department was only responsible for the safety of Sylareon. Glycan believed the best defense was offense. As a result, offensive department had 23 fleets, each of which had six battle groups. Defensive Department only had three fleets with two battle groups in every fleet. The 23 fleets known as Glycan Fleets was widely accepted as one of the most deadly forces in the universe. The operation and deployment of the fleets was under the leadership of Joint Commanders of Stuff which received orders directly from the chairman of offensive department.
In the building designated for Glycan selection committee on planet Sylareon, General Klizan was sitting in front of a round table, accompanied by five other high rank officers. He was 254 years old, large build, wearing a black uniform, his square face featured with sharp brown eyes and a red scar crossing his left eyelid. General Klizan was the chairman of offensive department and chairman of Glycan selection committee.
General Kalan just finished his report regarding what happened on planet Agirue. He was standing there nervously.
Around the table, General Ilina looked bored. General Tuies lost in her thought. General Cazon stared at Kalan unhappily. General Liliyana put on a cold face. Ilina and Tuies were members of Joint Commanders of Stuff. Cazon was the vice chairman of defensive department. Liliyana was the chairman of military intelligence agency.
“So, what you guys think?” Klizan asked slowly.
“Do we know how they found that planet?” Cazon stared at Kalan.
“We found a tracer on one of the eyeballs which was delivered recently. The tracer was made by Human.” Kalan said anxiously.
“Why you didn’t report this before you questioned those Hylocans?” Liliyana asked.
“I thought I could hand it myself.”
“You should know things related with Hylocan are very serious matters. Especially in this case.” Ilina said unhappily.
“Yes, General Ilina.”
“How long will it take to start testing the eyeball?” Klizan asked.
“According to what Caytion and Zserie said, we still need nine months.” Kalan said.
“It is too late to transfer the whole project to another planet.” Cazon said as he turned to Klizan.
“And we don’t have the budget for that.” Klizan said uneasily.
“I guess the most realistic one is to bolster security at Agirue.” Tuies said reluctantly.
“Yea, we will do that.” Klizan said.
“I don’t believe the Human was captured randomly.” Liliyana said.
“Did you torture the Human and got any intel?” Cazon asked.
“I haven’t done that yet.”
“Well, he is no longer useful.” Cazon said.
“We can still use him to find out where those Hylocans came from.” Klizan said easily.
“What do you mean?” Tuies asked.
“It is possible that
whoever waiting for the two Hylocans to return is still waiting. I bet those Hylocan went to that planet for the girl. We let the Human take the girl with him and return to the Hylocan ship. Then we track them down.” Klizan said confidently.
“We will run the risk of losing the girl. She is the Oracle.” Ilina said quickly.
“We won’t let the Human take the real girl. We simply find a replacement.” Klizan said in a relaxed tone.
“The Hylocans will be able to tell whether the replacement is the real Oracle or not.” Tuies said.
“By the time they find out, we will have located their vessel.” Klizan said firmly.
“I think this is a good idea.” Liliyana nodded.
“I agree.”
“Worth a try.”
Other officers all agreed with Klizan’s proposal.
“Kalan, you have your orders.” Klizan said as he motioned Kalan to leave the room. Kalan saluted everyone and left.
“We need to hurry up. There has been rumors about the Hylocan girl.” Liliyana said.
“They knew she was the Oracle?” Klizan asked.
“We don’t know whether they knew or not.” Liliyana said in a worried tone.
“We are lucky to capture the girl. It was not in our original plan. But now we can move the entire project to a new level.” Tuies said excitedly.
“If nobody found the planet, I would say so.” Cazon said.
“That is not important at this moment. We will find those Hylocans and finish them once for all.” Klizan said coldly.
Chapter 31
Klaycon contacted her sister Kuzania who was also a trainee and one year senior than him. After he explained the reason for the call, Kuzania checked hangars and the museum and found out Cruiser General Klizan was missing. Then she checked the navigation record of all vessels in the training center. For the past three days, no vessel headed to Etitaeg.
When she called back to Klaycon, she didn’t notice an Estian trainee Reseen was listening their conversation. Reseen didn’t understand why Cruiser General Klizan got involved, so he scooted to the museum. He was surprise that the cruiser was gone. Later, he reported this to his father, the prime minister of Estian government.