by Hao Yang
Mark checked Jason’s pulse and was happy that Jason was still alive. He took out another face transformer from his backpack and put it on Jason’s head. Then he carried Jason on his back and ran out of the room.
No Glycan paid special attention to Mark. Mark knew the alarm wouldn’t last long. He quickly rushed to the hangar. When Mark reached there, he hid in the shadow for a second, checking the surroundings. There were about 10 guards and 20 small spacecraft. Suddenly he saw two girls holding each other’s hand and running towards a spacecraft. One of girls was the Hylocan girl who pulled the fire alarm. The other one was wearing some kind of bandage over her eyes. Some 10 soldiers were running after the two girls, but none of them fired a shot. The guards left their ground and went to stop the girls.
While all soldiers were focusing on the girls, Mark sneaked into a spacecraft. He put Jason on the deck, started the engine and took the spacecraft off the ground. Now those soldiers noticed the spacecraft and everyone was firing at it. Dozens of laser beams hit the spacecraft, but it was not enough to take it down.
Mark turned the bow towards those soldiers and fired cannons at them.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The explosions torn those soldiers into pieces. Purple blood and body parts splattered everywhere. More Glycan soldiers flooded into the hangar and Mark gunned them down as well. Then Marked destroyed the two entrances and made a huge hole on the ceiling. Just before he launched the spacecraft into the sky, he saw the two girls lying on the ground. The one with bandage over her eyes was crawling. The other one was lying still, covered in blood.
“Shit!” Mark shouted. He landed the craft near the two girls and rushed out.
He ran to the girl lying still on the ground. Her belly was soaked in blood and one of her leg was missing. Mark quickly stood up and ran to the other girl. He grabbed her on the waist and carried her onto the spacecraft.
“Boom!” An explosion busted one entrance open.
As robots poured into the hangar, Mark launched the craft into the sky.
Following the robots, Kalan, Doisgy and numerous Glycan soldiers walked into the room carefully. Kalan and Doisgy stopped at the dead Hylocan girl. They all knew this girl was useless.
“Find the blind girl, now!” Kalan shouted.
Upon hearing his order, soldiers spread across the hangar.
“General, there is no sight of a blind girl.”
Kalan glanced over at the huge hole on the ceiling, then looked at Doisgy.
“You mean she was on a vessel?” Doisgy said.
“Yes.”
“But how can a blind girl pilot a space vessel?”
Kalan lost his words. As he was thinking other possibilities, Caytion rushed to them and said, “The two Humans were missing. One of them was bugged and he is in outer space, leaving Agirue.”
“The blind girl must be with him.” Kalan said.
“That makes sense.” Doisgy nodded.
“We can find him.” Caytion said.
“What about the blind girl? Did we bug her?” Kalan asked nervously.
“No.” Caytion said.
“Mobilize your fleet and find them. I need that blind girl alive. The Human either way.” Kalan said hastily.
Doisgy and Caytion nodded and left Kalan.
Kalan stepped on the head of the dead Hylocan girl and crushed it into pieces. He knew he was really in a big trouble this time.
Chapter 38
When Cruiser General Klizan arrived at the coordinate, it drained most of its power. Titainein and others were facing a lifeless planet. Black sand covered every inch of the bleak plain. Looking at the planet in the space, they had no idea where they were. After scanning the planet, they did find something. It was a colossal cubic structure. They landed the cruiser near that structure.
“I guess we just walked into another hell.” Sayilin said as he pointed at the white cubic.
“Maybe we can find some useful parts there.” Erikon said.
“Erikon, how many people do you need to repair the vessel?” Lucis asked.
“Three minimum. The more the better.” Erikon said.
“Idi, you stay.” Lucis said.
“Actually, I...I...I... feel like staying.” Orizy said nervously as he looked at the white cubic.
“OK, you stay.” Lucis said as he looked at Sayilin and Titainein.
“Alright, I will go with you.” Sayilin said uneasily.
“I like to find out what is in there.” Titainein said curiously.
Lucis, Sayilin and Titainein each carried a rifle, heading to the white cubic. Each side of the cubic was one kilometer long and it was not white but transparent. There was white liquid circling in the cubic, which made it look white. On one of the walls, there was two seals carved into the surface. One was from Guardian Fleet and the other was from United Galaxies.
“Looks like UG shut down this place a long time ago.” Titainein said as she marveled at the cubic.
“How to get in?” Lucis asked as he knocked on the wall.
“Maybe that is why the cruiser stored the location of this planet. I think Guardian Fleet must send the cruiser here to shut down the facility.” Sayilin said as he pointed at Guardian Fleet seal.
“Where is the door?” Lucis asked and slid his hands over the wall.
“If they shut it down, we shouldn’t go in there. It gives me goose bumps.” Sayilin said slowly.
When Lucis slid his watch over the Guardian Fleet seal, a door suddenly appeared. The white liquid in the cubic rushed out and flocked around Lucis.
“Run, Vampire!” Sayilin shouted.
It was too late. After about 10 seconds, the white liquid spewed him out. His face looked fresh and his clothes looked like new.
“You alright?” Sayilin asked, standing far away from the door.
“I feel good.” Lucis said in surprise.
“What?” Sayilin was shocked.
“Whatever.” Titainein said and stepped into the cubic and the white liquid also swallowed her. After 10 seconds, she came out clean as well.
“Come on. Sayilin!” Titainein shouted.
Sayilin took a deep breath and jumped into the cubic. The same thing happened to him.
Inside the cubic, the thick liquid was circling along the walls. While the three reached the center of the cubic, a stream of white liquid slowly touched down in front of them, forming a Glycan like figure.
“Please provide the authorization code.” The figure said gently.
Lucis, Sayilin and Titainein looked at each other nervously.
“Please provide the authorization code.”
“Guardian Fleet inspection!” Titainein said.
The figure reached out its hand and touched on Titainein’s wrists. After it reached her watch, the flow said, “Welcome.”
A door appeared on the ground and they entered the underground facility, followed by the figure.
“What is this place?” Titainein asked the figure.
“The building along with the underground facility was the research center for biogenetic weapon during UWII. It was constructed by Glycan and Estian.” The figure said.
“What are you?” Lucis asked.
“I am the robot running the research center.”
“What are those white liquid?” Sayilin asked.
“It serves as a generator to provide power to the facility, working by transforming light into energy. It also functions as security and cleaning tools.”
They continued walking in the well-lightened corridor. Most of rooms were empty, filled with trash.
“When was the facility shut down?” Titainein asked.
“The facility was shut down by Guardian FLeet right after the United Galaxies passed article 14.”
“Where can we find parts for a space vessel?” Lucis asked.
“The facility doesn’t store any space vessel part. But there was one broken spacecraft in the hangar.”
“Where is the hangar?”
“Le
vel one. Region D.”
“Look.” Sayilin said as he pointed at one room. In the room, Hylocans’s skeletons piled up like mountains.
“Wow, how many Hylocans they killed?” Lucis asked. He felt chills running along his spine.
“The exact number is not available.” The figure said.
“I remembered reading this somewhere. Near the end of UWII, the nine species used a biogenetic weapon on Hylocan. It was specifically designed to use Hylocan’s body to generate some creature to kill Hylocan. Most Hylocans on planet Akenlys were slaughtered this way.” Titainein said.
On the way to the hangar, they saw more and more rooms filled with Hylocans’ skeletons. In some rooms, there were Hylocans bodies or body parts submerged in blue liquid. There were also hundreds of containers holding Hylocans’ eyeballs. In other rooms, disgusting creatures were kept in large sealed tubes. Lucis, Sayilin and Titainein had no idea what all those creature were. They walked slowly, their hands holding rifles, their ears stretching out.
After 40 minutes, they arrived at the hangar and checked the broken spacecraft. It was much smaller than the cruiser and more like a fighter jet. The white figure was still staying with them.
“Erikon, how is the repair going?” Lucis called Erikon on his watch.
“There are so many leaks on the hull. I really don’t know how long it will take.” Erikon said.
“Erikon, I think we can try something else. There is a spacecraft here. It has some problems, but not something serious. We can use this one and get out of here.” Titainein said.
Lucis and Sayilin was surprised at first and then they nodded at Titainein.
“Then what about the cruiser? We just leave it here?” Orizy said.
“Well, Glycan will find it anyway. We don’t need to worry about that.” Lucis said.
“We need to go back to training center as soon as possible. That is the key point!” Sayilin said.
“Alright, I am coming.I will bring some food with me.” Erikon said.
“Erikon, don’t forget the crystal above the captain seat.” Lucis said.
“Got you.”
Erikon, Idi and Orizy left the cruiser and headed to the cubic. They met Lucis at the door and went through the same process as Lucis did. The white figure did scare Idi a little bit. Then they went to the hangar.
Titainein was right about the broken spacecraft. After they cleaned the engine and rebooted the system, everything was working now. Everyone strapped themselves on seats.
“The course is set.” Lucis said.
“Engine is good.” Erikon said.
“All systems checked.” Titainein said.
The hangar door opened slowly and lights poured in. The figure waved to the spacecraft.
“Alright, let’s go home!” Sayilin shouted as he pushed the controller forward.
“Boom!” The spacecraft launched into the sky, heading to Eva-1.
Chapter 39
Mark knew he didn’t have much time, so he set the course to the closest planet inhabited by second class species. He decided to get his son out of danger first. On the way to that planet, Mark checked Jason’s wounds. Mark was surprised to see his son could survive the wound on his chest. But Jason had lost lots of blood, so Mark did a blood transfusion. The blind girl was all right. She only got some bruises and scratches.
As soon as they got close to the planet, Mark carried Jason and the girl to a lifeboat. Then he fired the lifeboat to the planet. He knew he was gambling in this case. But he also knew if he took them with him, Glycans would catch all of them.
Mark let out a long sigh. Now he didn’t know what to do next. He knew Glycan must have bugged him and there was no way he could find it in a short time.
“Proximity alert. Proximity alert!” The alarm sounded.
Mark checked the screen. To his surprise, the incoming vessel wasn’t Glycan. As he was wondering who that could be, someone hailed him.
“Yes, who is this?” Mark answered the call.
“Mark Marton. You really think you can get away from us?”
Mark recognized this voice. It was that male Hylocan.
“We will see.” Mark hung up and pushed the throttle all the way forward. The vessel blasted away.
“Warning! Incoming missiles!”
Mark made several sharp turns but still couldn’t get away. While he was trying to engage the dark matter passageway, one missile exploded right behind his vessel, projecting hundreds of drones at his vessel. Some of the drones landed on the vessel and drilled into the hull. Soon the vessel lost power and came to a stop like a sitting duck.
Several seconds later, the Hylocan vessel flew close to Mark’s vessel and grabbed it with a machine claw and pulled it into its hull.
Mark knew Hylocan would soon break into his vessel and they would read his mind and know what he was thinking. It was just a matter of time they would found out what happened. He took out a needle from his backpack. It could paralyse brain for 10 minutes. He knew this wasn’t a good idea, but he really ran out of options.
“Boom!” An explosion blasted a hole on Mark’s vessel.
Just at this moment, Mark stabbed the needle into his arm. He sunk into the chair and his mind went blanked.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt the pain on his left forearm. He looked down and saw his left ulna sticking out of skin. He glanced over at the window and caught some 10 Glycan vessels. Mark could imagine what happened. Those Glycans tracked him down and attacked the Hylocan vessel. Mark could hear Glycan soldiers running and shouting outside the compartment. He looked around and found his backpack on the nearby table. He quickly stood up, grabbed his backpack, took out the face transformer and put it on. Now he looked just like a Glycan. He walked out of the compartment and followed behind several Glycan soldiers onto a Glycan vessel. Nobody even looked at him. He quickly found his way to the vessel’s hangar. There were five small fighter jets. He climbed into one and started the engine. As he was preparing the takeoff, someone hailed him in the cockpit.
“Please provide flight plan.”
“Ah, Ah.” Mark didn’t know what to say.
“Please provide flight plan.”
Just at this moment, the hangar door opened and a fighter jet flew in. Before the door shut, Mark flew the jet out of the hangar.
Chapter 40
Jason felt someone shaking his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a girl with bandage over her eyes. He couldn’t see or hear clearly. He only could tell that he was lying on a slope of a hull or something. He felt a little better, but still too weak to get up.
“They are coming. Five of them.” The girl whispered into Jason’s ear.
“Where am I?” Jason asked weakly.
“I don’t know. They are very close now.” The girl said.
Jason blinked his eyes, trying to make out what they looked like.
When those five figures stood right in front of Jason, he finally found out that they were Tizuees. One of them crouched down beside Jason and checked him carefully. He said something in Tizueelish, but Jason couldn’t understand. The blind girl was scared, her hands holding Jason’s hand tightly.
The five Tizuees discussed for about a minute. Jason’s vision was getting vague and he passed out. The blind girl called Jason, but couldn’t wake him up.
After several minutes, a hovercraft landed on the slope. Those Tizuees carried Jason and the blind girl onto the craft. Then it took off, heading towards mountains.
When Jason woke up again, he found himself lying on a bed in a spacious room. A young Tizuee girl wearing a keen length blue skirt was checking the wound on his chest. Another Tizuee lady stood beside him and asked, “How do you feel?” She was an old lady, around 60 or so, tall and slender.
Jason was surprised to hear somebody speaking English. In the training center, he spoke Glycanese all the time except when he talked to Erikon and Lucis.
“Much better.” Jason replied in English.
&nb
sp; “I know you are a member of Guardian Fleet. You must could speak Glycanese. My English is so poor.” The old lady said.
Jason nodded.
“Do you remember what happened?” The old lady asked.
“No. Not really.” Jason said. He remembered everything until he was kicked on the head.
“The wound on your chest was made by a special Glycan blade. Those blades were usually poisonous. You were lucky to be alive.” The old lady said kindly.
This reminded Jason of his hands. He gazed at them. They were no longer black, looking normal as usual.
“You neutralized those poison?” Jason said as he sat up on the bed.
“No, even if we want, we couldn’t. Your body somehow cleansed it out on its own, which amazed us as well.” The old lady smiled.
As Jason was talking to the old lady, the other lady was speaking on a communicator. Then she turned to Jason and said, “Somebody wants to talk to you. By the way the girl is all right. You slept three days. She is worried about you.”
“What girl?” Jason asked in confusion.
“The blind girl travelled with you.”
“Oh, I see.” Jason had no idea what she was talking about.
A male Tizuee appeared at the doorway. He had a cold and serious face with Tizuee signature red eyes, 40 something. The two ladies acknowledged the male Tizuee and said goodbye to Jason.
The male Tizuee walked close to Jason and said, “Mr. Jason Marton. My name is Fieute. How are you doing?”
“I am feeling much better.” Jason said.
“I was told that your condition improved and you were able to answer questions.” Fieute said seriously.
“As you can see.” Jason smiled politely.
“How did you leave Guardian Fleet training center?”
Jason was hoping he asked something more general. In that case, he might be able to play dumb. But he didn’t see the point of lying to this Tizuee, so he went ahead and told him everything starting from leaving the training center.
After hearing the story, Fieute stared in surprise at Jason for a while and said, “At least we know you must had a fight with someone having a special Glycan blade. Probably a high rank Glycan officer. The wound on your chest proved it.”