by Hao Yang
After talking with his sister, Klaycon was almost certain that Jason drove the cruiser to Etitaeg. But he still had a lot of questions. One of them was how Jason had the access to the cruiser. Holding Gloria’s family badge, Klaycon headed to the compartment where Jason was held.
Several robots were restraining Jason on a chair, holding him tight. A claw like machine was hanging above Jason’s head, casting five beams of green light on his head. It was a device invented by Zier’s father Zserie to generate different levels of pain through manipulating signals in neurons. When Klaycon came into the compartment, Zier was adjusting the claw. Right now Jason couldn’t see or hear anything. All he could feel was pain.
“Got anything?” Klaycon asked.
“Not yet. Now he is feeling the pain as if someone was pulling off his finger nails. This is just the middle level.” Zier said easily.
“We will arrive at Arigie in 10 minutes.” Klaycon said impatiently.
“I know. I am working on it. What do you think your grandfather General KIizan will say about this?”
“You mean he killed a monster?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing will surprise him. But I never heard anyone kill one before.”
“And today, we had the opportunity to see it with our own eyes.” Zier said happily.
“OK. Stop the device for a second. I need to ask him something.” Klaycon said quickly.
Zier removed the claw. Jason was still twitching and trembling, covered in his own sweat.
“Well, do you still remember the question I asked before?” Klaycon asked coldly.
“You better kill me, if not, I will kill you.” Jason said decisively.
“I will keep that in mind. I have learned that you drove Cruiser General Klizan to Etitaeg.” Klaycon said with a big grin.
Jason was shocked. He didn’t expect they would find it out this quick.
“You think your friends will get away. No, No, No. We will hunt them down and kill them all.” Klaycon said firmly.
“Fuck you!” Jason shouted furiously. If he could, he would have jumped out of the chair and bit Klaycon on the neck.
Klaycon smiled happily and walked out of the room, followed by Zier.
“So, he did use Cruiser General Klizan.” Zier whispered.
“I wasn’t sure before. Based on his reaction, he and his friends did. We need to get to Sylareon as soon as possible.” Klaycon said and headed to the bridge.
Soon after Klaycon arrived on Arigie, he left others on the planet and took Jason to Sylareon.
Chapter 32
Right now, the vessel carrying Jason was touching down on an airborne platform. On the platform, a military officer, accompanied by ten heavily armed Glycan soldiers, was waiting for Klaycon.
The vessel extended the boarding ramp to the platform. Klaycon stepped out of the vessel, followed by two robots holding Jason between them. Jason had never been to a planet owned by first class species.
Surrounded by clouds, thousands of buildings were floating in the air, standing in lines like soldiers waiting for inspection. Countless aircrafts, transporters and birds were flying in grace among those buildings. Endless forests covered the ground, spreading to the horizon.
Klaycon saluted the military officer and said, “Hello, Captain Lantia.”
“It has been a while, Klaycon.” Captain Lantia greeted him. She was one of the officers who trained Klaycon.
“It is. How is everything?” Klaycon asked.
“Good. So this is the human.” Lantia said as she stared at Jason.
“Yes. I will leave him to you. I gotta go.” Klaycon said hastily. On the way to Sylareon, Klaycon had reported the incident to the selection committee.
“Klaycon, General Klizan wanted to see you and this Human.” Lantia said.
“Really, that is unusual.” Klaycon said in surprise.
“I know. This is not how we usually handle it. But when General Klizan heard this Human killed a monster on Etitaeg, he was very interested in meeting him in person.”
“Alright, so why he wants to see me?”
“I guess, he misses you.” Lantia said kindly.
Klaycon gave her a stiff smiled. He couldn’t even recall the last time he met his grandfather. Given the fact Klizan had so many sons and grandsons, Klaycon was surprised that his grandfather even remembered him. He and Lantia walked into a vessel waiting aside the platform.
The robots and soldiers escorted Jason to another vessel. The two vessels took off from the platform. After about five minutes, they arrived at the building and waited in an empty room. Jason was stilled sandwiched between two robots. Later, a colonel showed up and took them to General Klizan’s office. General Klizan was sitting near a window, accompanied by General Ciethu, the vice chair of selection committee. Ciethu was 220 years old, medium build, long face with thick lips and dark yellow eyes.
“Klaycon, come over here, let me take a look at you.” Klizan said happily.
Klaycon saluted Klizan and Ciethu and then walked to Klizan.
“See, this will be the future of Glycan.” Klizan said to Ciethu as he pointed at Klaycon.
“Congratulation, Klaycon. We just learned you finished first place in the selection. That is the third champion in a row.” Ciethu smiled at Klaycon.
“Thank you very much, General.” Klaycon said.
“Huh.” Jason turned his face away.
Klizan caught that he walked to Jason and said, “So you are the one.” He was wondering how this medium build boy was able to kill a monster.
“What do you care?” Jason said as he glanced over at Klizan.
“I don’t, but if you prefer die right now. I can grant that.” Klizan said easily.
“Yes, please.” Jason said calmly.
Klizan was a little surprised that this Human was so prepared and calm to say so. He looked into Jason’s eyes. Having seen thousands of death in his life, Klizan could easily tell whether someone was bluffing or not. He knew this Human was not afraid.
“How did you get into the cruiser?” Klizan asked.
Jason didn’t say a word. He just looked at Klizan directly into his eyes.
“Take him away.” Klizan said coldly.
The two robots carried Jason out of the room.
“I can’t believe this kid killed a monster. You said you saw it?” Klizan turned to Klaycon.
“Yes, I saw it.” Klaycon said.
“What do you think, Ciethu?” Klaycon said.
“I was expecting to see someone bulkier. But we can find it out easily.” Ciethu said with a big grin.
“You are thinking mix him with some animals we have?” Klizan said happily.
Ciethu nodded.
“General Klizan, I thought he needed to be tried in court.” Klaycon said cautiously.
“Hahaha!” Both generals laughed loudly.
“Well, that will be the headline news.” Ciethu chuckled.
“Come on, he is still a kid. I can understand why he said something like that.” Klizan said kindly.
“Klaycon, even though he is a trainee in Guardian Fleet, he is still a second species. Nobody cares.” Ceithu said easily.
“Anything else?” Klizan asked Klaycon
“No, not really.” Klaycon said hesitatingly. He was hoping to have a family moment.
“Dismiss.” Klizan said without even looking at Klaycon.
Klaycon quickly left the room. He was in a hurry to find out whether Gloria made it to Arigie or not.
Chapter 33
After Titainein and others dropped Gloria on planet Arigie, they headed back to Eva-1. What happened in the past seven hours stunned all of them. From time to time, they gazed at captain’s chair as if Jason was still sitting on it. Idi still couldn’t believe Jason was gone forever. Orizy and Sayilin regretted they didn’t stop Jason from the very beginning. Titainein couldn’t understand how love could make one person fight against the world. Lucis and Erikon knew Jason better than ot
hers and they knew Jason was ready to sacrifice everything the moment he stepped out of the dorm.
“Ding, ding, ding, ding.” The warning alarm echoed in the bridge.
Idi checked the radar and said, “Proximity alert. Seven vessels are heading at us.”
“Glycans?” Lucis asked.
“Yes.” Idi replied.
“They are hailing us.” Titainein said.
“What we do? What we do? Should we reply?” Idi said in panic.
“No, if we reply, they will find out.” Sayilin said quickly.
“Get weapon ready.” Lucis shouted.
“I am on it. We only have defensive weapons.” Orizy said as he tapped on the screen. The defensive weapons were online and ready.
“They stopped hailing us.” Titainein said.
“They are slowing down.” Idi said happily.
“What? Bring it up to the center screen.” Lucis said.
On the screen, seven vessels were slowing down and regrouped in battle formation.
“They are going to fire.” Titainein said hastily.
“All head full! All head full!” Lucis shouted.
Sayilin pushed throttle all the way forward.
Five destroyers and two cruisers formed a triangle and fired five missiles at the cruiser.
“Incoming missiles. Incoming missiles! Thirty seconds to impact!” Idi yelled.
“Ready countermeasure!” Lucis said nervously.
“I am working on it. I am working on it.” Orizy said while tapping on the screen.
“Erikon, I need 100% engine output.” Sayilin said.
“Sure.” Erikon replied.
The cruiser was picking up speed but those missiles were much faster.
“Twenty seconds to impact!” Idi shouted.
“Countermeasure?” Sayilin asked.
“Almost there, almost there.”
“Come on, man!” Lucis shouted
“Countermeasure ready.”
“Release countermeasure!” Lucis shouted.
“No, wait, wait!” Titainein shouted. It was too late.
Five countermeasures left the tail of the cruiser and formed five huge nets right behind the cruiser.
“Fifteen seconds to impact!”
The missiles detoured around the nets.
“The missiles bypassed countermeasures and homing!” Idi said.
“Wait until they get closer. Get five countermeasures ready.” Titainein said.
Everyone stared at the center screen, breathing heavily.
“Five second to the impact.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
“Now!” Titainein shouted.
Five countermeasures shot out of the tail and blocked the missiles.
“We got them. We got them.” Idi said excitedly, raising her arms in the air.
The seven vessels changed their formation to a single line.
“What are they doing?” Orizy asked.
“Oh, my.” Sayilin sighed.
The seven vessels fired their main canons.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions shook the cruiser up and down, throwing Lusic, Orizy and Idi out of their chairs.
“Get us out of here.” Lucis shouted.
Sayilin pushed the controller all the way to the right. The cruiser made a sharp right turn and drifted out of the dark matter passageway.
“Where are we?” Orizy asked as he climbed back to his chair.
“We are in Milky Way Galaxy. Close to the center.” Lucis said nervously.
The whirl, the center of Galaxy, was right in front of them.
“They are behind us. They are behind us!” Idi shouted.
“This is engine. Propeller system damaged! We can’t use dark matter passageway anymore.” Erikon called in.
“Power supply lines failed.” Titainein said.
“Boom!” The cruiser was hit again.
“Head to the center. Sayilin.” Titainein said calmly.
“We will be sucked into black hole!” Sayilin shouted.
“We won’t, Lucis, locate the wormhole closest to the center.” Titainein said calmly.
“Defense system failed!” Orizy shouted.
“Let’s do this” Lucis said as he brought up the wormhole map.
The cruiser headed directly to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, its hull riddled with dents and cracks. Following behind the cruiser, the seven vessels kept firing their main cannons.
“Black hole proximity alert! 40 seconds!”
“Keep going!”
“Incoming missiles. Incoming missiles.” Idi shouted.
“Dark liquid is leaking. We have one minute!” Erikon called in.
“Time of impact?” Titainein asked.
“33 seconds.”
“Time to black hole?”
“30.”
“Found the wormhole. Erikon, focus all energy, prepare the jump.” Lucis said hastily.
Now everyone could feel the grab from the black hole.
“15 second to black hole. 18 seconds to missile impact.”
“It’s too close. We can’t make it. We can’t make it!” Orizy cried desperately.
“Shut up!” Titainein shouted.
“They stopped. Glycan vessels stopped.” Idi said.
“10 seconds.”
“Lucis, set the jump course for Eva-1.” Titainein said quickly.
“Done.”
“Sayilin, wait my word for hard starboard.”
“Ready.”
“Five.”
“Four.”
“Now!” Titainnein shouted.
The cruiser made a sharp turn and most of missiles went directly into the black hole. But there were still two following right behind the cruiser.
“Initiate jump procedure.” Titainein said quickly.
“Done.”
“Impact, impact!” Idi shouted.
“Bang! Bang!” Two missiles hit the cruiser after it entered the worm hole. The impact threw everyone on the floor and killed the power. The cruiser drifted off its course.
Chapter 34
General Klizan and Ceithu were sitting in an observation room. In front of them, there was an arena the size of a football field. Several minutes later, Liliyana joined them. She was 200 years old, large build, square face with a male’s look.
Two robots carried Jason into the arena and released him in the center of the field. Tired and hungry, Jason looked around. Now he didn’t feel itchy anymore. Instead, he felt something was seeping into his bones. He felt changes in his body, his skin hardening, his muscles tightening, his joints strengthening.
In the observation room, Liliyana gazed at Jason up and down and said, “He doesn’t look that strong.”
“That is what I think as well.” Klizan said.
“What shall we start with? Any idea?” Ceithu said easily.
“What do you have here?” Liliyana asked.
“Oh, I have Viyeao, Otheu and Atihr.”
“Otheu, I will say. What about you, General Klizan?” Liliyana asked.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Release Otheu.” Ceithu said to his badge.
A door opened and four robots pushed a laser cage into the field. Resembling the shape of a tiger but four times bigger, the creature licked its black teeth and lips, its claws shining like steel. As soon as the laser disappeared, the Otheu sprinted out, grabbed a robot and tore it into pieces. It grasped another robot with its tail, threw it in the air and slashed it in half.
Jason lowered himself on the ground, hoping to be ignored. But after the Otheu finished the last robot, it ran towards him. Jason jumped aside to dodge its charge. As he became more and more excited, he felt something coming out of his bones and fueling his strength. He didn’t feel tired any more.
The Otheu howled at Jasno and shrugged its shoulders, blade like bones popping out of its back. Jason took off his grey uniform and wrapped it on his right arm. Suddenly, it thrust at Jason at full
blast. Knowing he only had one shot, Jason darted to the Otheu, aiming his right fist at its mouth. They both jumped into the air and rammed into each other, head on head. Jason’s whole right arm stuck into Otheu’s mouth. Jason’s uniform was made by steel string reinforced fiber, so it could stand the bite. But the pressure on his right forearm was building up. Before the Otheu could grab him with its claws, Jason poked one of its eyes with his fingers. Driven by the pain, the Otheu heaved Jason in the air and shook him like crazy. Before he reaching for the other eye, Otheu lost the bite. Jason hit the wall and slumped on the ground. He swiftly picked himself up, ran towards the Otheu and jumped on its back, holding tight on one of the blade bones.
“Ah, Aaah!” Jason screamed as he was pulling the bone.
The Otheu bounced on the ground, howling desperately, its claws sliding over its back, its tail sweeping in the air,
“Aaaaaaaaah!” Jason yelled and pulled the blade bone out. Black blood busted out like volcano eruption. The Otheu plumped on the ground. Standing on the Otheu, he pulled out another blade bone. With one blade on each hand, he dashed to the observation room.
“That was something.” Liliyana said in surprise.
“What is he thinking? Kill us?” Ceithu laughed as he saw Jason coming closer and closer.
Jason leaped into the air and thrusted one blade at the window. The blade couldn’t even make a scratch and Jason fell hard on the ground.
“Let us keep him busy.” Klizan smiled at Ceithu.
“Release Viyeao.”
The growl came from the ceiling like rolling thunders. Then a dragon stuck its red head in and crawled into the arena from the ceiling, its scales shining like red rubies, its yellow eyes gazing at Jason.
“This is great.” Jason sighed. He knew those thick scales could easily stop his blade bone unless he stabbed the joints. Circling high above Jason like a fighter jet, the dragon was not in a hurry to attack him. The strong wind generated by the two huge wings pushed Jason back and forth. He stuck the blade bones into ground and held on to them.
Suddenly, the dragon dived at Jason, its wings half-folded, its claws reaching forwards. Jason couldn’t use the previous trick against the dragon. He ran to the wall and squeezed himself to the baseboard. The dragon was too large to grab Jason while gliding. It tried several times and hit the wall every time. Soon it landed on the ground and crawled to Jason slowly. While on the ground, the dragon was much slower. The dragon swung its claws at Jason, while at the same time attacking him with its mouth and tongue. Jason dodged left and right, waiting patiently. When the tongue shot out again, he suddenly stabbed it with the blade bone. The bone penetrated the flesh and stuck into ground. While the dragon was growling in pain, Jason quickly climbed on its neck with another blade bone in his hand. Temporarily restrained by the blade on its tongue, the dragon couldn’t shake Jason off. It slowly pulled the blade bone off the ground with its claw and then shot into the air, rotating its body, shaking its neck, shrugging its shoulders. Jason held on to its neck, feeling like riding on a roller coaster. The dragon consistently went up and down and he couldn’t even move a centimeter. He knew he wouldn’t have long and there was no way he could kill the dragon like this. Holding himself on the scale, he decided to do something crazy. When the dragon dived again, Jason suddenly stabbed the blade bone into the crack between two scales. The dragon turned its neck to alleviate the pain, heading straight to the observation room.