by Hao Yang
“What happened?” Lisania asked caringly.
“I gotta go. I gotta go.” Jason said hastily and headed out.
After he went back to the dorm, he locked himself in the restroom and soaked his head in the ice cold water.
Chapter 49
In the second class species movie theater, Jason was watching Matrix Revolution with Gloria. Gloria was getting so involved in the story that she bruised Jason’s hand. After the movie was over, she still held Jason’s hand on her chest.
“Gloria, my hand.” Jason said gently.
“Oh, I am sorry.” Gloria said as she quickly released Jason’s hand.
“Don’t worry about it.” Jason said easily.
They smiled at each other.
“So does Human kiss like that in real life?” Gloria asked.
“Yea. What about you guys?” Jason asked.
“No. We hug but never kiss like that. I think it’s because there are a lot of bacteria and germ in the mouth.” Gloria said seriously.
“Huh.” Jason gave Gloria a bored look.
“I don’t mean it is wrong. It’s just we don’t do it.”
“I guess it’s just culture difference.”
“I want to try it. Do you want to try?” Gloria asked sincerely, looking into Jason’s eyes.
Jason gazed at Gloria, wondering whether she was teasing him.
“Sure, I like to.” Jason said easily, even though he had never kissed anyone before.
They looked at each other nervously, their hearts throbbing. Then they slowly closed their eyes, leaning to each other. But both of them were closing in so fast that their noses crashed before their lips made the contact.
Now Jason was bleeding through his nose and Gloria felt her head spinning all over the place.
“How they did it with their eyes closed?” Gloria said painfully, holding her nose.
“I think we have the wrong direction. I should tilt my head to the right. You tilt yours to the left.”
They tried again, but this time they realized it was wrong before they hit each other again.
“I should tilt to my right. Right?” Gloria asked.
“Yes, yes.” Jason said quickly. He felt he was an idiot.
“OK. Let’s do it right this time.” Gloria said decisively, which made Jason even more nervous.
They leaned to each other again. But Gloria was too fast that she bit Jason’s upper lip. Jason felt Gloria’s lips and the pain on his upper lip. He lost his balance and fell on the floor.
“Sorry, sorry.” Gloria said hastily.
“It’s OK. I am fine. I am fine.” Jason said and quickly picked himself up.
“I can tell you never kiss a girl before.”
“I can tell you never kiss a boy before.”
They laughed loudly.
“It didn’t felt that great, actually. Why Human like it?” Gloria complained.
“I don’t feel that good, either.” Jason said and rubbed his bleeding nose and lip with his sleeve.
“You want to try again?”
“No, next time, next time.” Jason smiled reluctantly.
They laughed again and hugged each other.
After Gloria left, Jason headed back to his dorm. While he was walking in the dark corridor, he heard the tread of light steps. He stopped and said, “Come out. I know you are there.”
Klaycon emerged from the shadow, followed by Zier, Nissen and Didian.
“I was wondering what took you this long.” Jason said ironically.
“Very funny.” Klaycon said angrily.
“Let’s finish what we started.” Jason said calmly.
“I will enjoy watching you die.”
“I was about to say the same thing.” Jason smiled.
Klaycon darted to Jason, his uniform transforming into an armor suit and a dagger popping out of his right fist. He leaped into the air and swung the dagger at Jason’s face. Jason jumped aside. Klaycon turned and struck at Jason’s chest. Jason tilted to the right to dodge the stab and then kicked Klaycon on his belly. Klaycon lurched back.
Jason was getting more excited and he felt refreshed and refueled. He charged at Klaycon, throwing a punch at his face. At the same time, Klaycon was taking a swipe at Jason. Klaycon blocked Jason’s punch and Jason caught Klaycon’s left fist. Klaycon then thrusted the dagger at Jason, but Jason grabbed Klaycon’s wrist just before the dagger cut into his neck. Jason jumped backwards, pulling back his arms in a quick thrust. Klaycon lost his balance and fell on his chest. Before Klaycon could stand on his feet, Jason started to rotate. Dragged by Jason, Klaycon was moving in a circle and picking up speed. He kicked his feet on the ground, trying to stand up. But it didn’t work. Jason revolved faster and faster. Now Klaycon was in the air, one meter above the ground.
“Get him!” Klaycon shouted.
Zier and Nissen rushed to save Klaycon. Jason saw them coming. He increased the speed and suddenly released Klaycon. Klaycon flew to Zier and Nissen and knocked them over on the ground. Jason rushed to the three Glycans. Klaycon just stood up. Jason leaped in the air and kicked him on the chest. Klaycon fell on Zier. Nissen got up and punched Jason on the face. As he was about to stab Jason with a dagger, Jason grasped that hand and directed the dagger at Klaycon who just stood up again. Nissen was pulling his arm back, but he could match Jason’s strength. Klaycon saw it coming and shouted, “Pull it back.”
The dagger retreated back to Nissen’s fist. Jason released Nissen’s hand and kicked him on the belly. Nissen stumbled back. At this moment, Klaycon and Zier thrust their daggers at Jason one aiming at his chest, the other one at his face. At the same time, Jason felt a cold wind from behind. He swiftly turned around, grabbed Nissen’s arm and dragged his body to the front.
Klaycon was able to withdraw his dagger. But it was too late for Zier. He stabbed Nissen on his back.
“Aaaah.” Niseen screamed.
“Nissen!” Zier shouted.
“Don’t take it out!” Klaycon shouted at Zier.
Jason kicked Nissen on the chest, which made the dagger stick even further.
“Ah, aaaaah.” Nissen screamed.
Klaycon knew Nissen didn’t have much time. He glanced over at Didian. He was hiding in the corner, too scared to come forward.
“Come help!” Klaycon shouted. Didian ran to Zier and help him carry Nissen away.
“I guess we have to do it another time.” Klaycon said furiously.
“I prefer to finish right now.” Jason said firmly.
“Klaycon, Nissen is dying!” Didian shouted.
Klaycon stared at Jason furiously, and then turned around and retreated with others.
Jason didn’t chase after them. He went back to his dorm.
Chapter 50
General Klaycon waited four days, but there was not even a spacecraft getting near to the perimeter. There was nothing leaving the planet either. Finally he decided to send drones. Right now 50 drones were heading to the planet.
Klizan, Ceithu and other officers in the bridge were watching the live feeds from the drones. The planet’s white color was actually from sulfur. The black straps were steep-sided canyons thousands of meters deep. One drone’s live feed caught Klizan’s attention. It was now in a canyon and flying above a gigantic saucer-shaped object the size of two football fields.
“What is that thing?” Ciethu asked.
“It is a bomb.” Klizan said calmly.
“Like the one destroyed Rettiu?” General Fieope asked curiously.
Ciethu frowned and nudged Fieope. He knew Klizan hated hearing the word Rettiu. It was the name of a planet that used to be Glycan’s industrial center.
“Yea, just like the one destroyed Rettiu. Unfortunately, we found it out too late at that time.” Klizan sighed. Hylocan seized Rettiu at the beginning of UWII. In the middle stage of the war, five Glycan fleets managed to penetrate Hylocan’s defense layer near the planet and forced Hylocan to retreat. But as the five Glycan fleets got clos
e to the atmosphere of Rettiu, a bomb destroyed Rettiu and all the five fleets. Klizan’s father, the then field marshal, was killed. After losing its elite fleets, Glycan had to stall the offensive and the war waged another decade.
“There are something here.” Fieope said, pointing at a screen. It was a field of wreckages and small craters.
“Doesn’t look like a landing crash.” Fieope murmured.
“General Klizan, what do you think?” Ciethu asked.
“They fired at their own base.” Klizan said confidently.
“I guess after they lost the contact with the vessel we captured. They decided to disappear.” Ciethu said.
Klizan and others in the room fell into silence.
Later, Klizan had some wreckages taken from the site for further analysis. Then he ordered fleets to return to Sylareon.
When Klizan went back to his office in the selection committee build, he was surprised to see Iteiten, the prime minister of Estian, was waiting for him. They acknowledged each other and sat across a table in Klizan’s office.
“What brings you here?” Klizan asked directly. Personally, he thought Estian was the ugliest species in the universe. Their prolate spheroid head was coupled with round eyes, tiny nose and a huge wide mouth. As for Iteiten, he looked even worse, because he had so many moles on his face.
“Well, your leader Liutein invited me.” Iteiten said easily.
Klizan smiled politely at Iteiten and said, “I see. But why you want to see me?”
“Well, you remember Cruiser General Klizan? You must remember. It was named after your name after all.”
“What about it?”
“It seemed that even if the cruiser was decommissioned, someone is still using it.” Iteiten said.
“I don’t care this kind of thing.” Klizan said impatiently.
“I understand. But are you interested in the remote planet that it travels to?” Iteiten said as he took out a button like object. He pressed the button and it showed the hologram of planet Agirue.
Klizan looked calm as usual, but he was shocked that Estian found out this particular planet.
“We understand that this planet is not on your book. Actually it’s not on anyone’s book.” Iteiten said with a mysterious smile.
“Good news for you.”
“That is why we will send a fleet there, if you don’t mind. Or maybe I can talk to your leader Liutein about this matter. He might be more interested in it.” Iteiten smiled evilly.
Klizan paused for a second and asked, “What do you want?”
“That’s more like it. As you know, Estian and Uainanese are locked in a disputed planet named Yetin. We understand Glycan doesn’t take any position in this matter. However, it seems that you have several combat vessels parking in the area claimed by Uainanese. Apparently, it could be a problem if we take any further action in this matter.”
As a rising power, Estian was expanding its territory and becoming more assertive on the long disputed planets. Estian’s growing armed force and its capabilities of projecting its force to more remote locations had worried Glycan and Uainanese and Glycan had been working on constraining Estian.
“I hope that is all you need.” Klizan said with a fake smile.
“Right now, yes. But who knows? We may come up something else from time to time. As long as we work together, I don’t really care what you are doing on that planet.” Iteiten said happily.
“Thank you. Anything else?” Klizan said hastily. He couldn’t wait to send him away.
“No. I will keep in touch.” Iteiten said. He stood up and headed out.
Chapter 51
Jason and his teammates were checking their heavy armor suits and rifles for the second round of the game. They didn’t talk much. The recent death of two trainees really got on their nerves.
The red light was flashing. It was the time. Jason looked round at his teammates and said, “Be careful! I don’t want any of one get hurt.”
They entered the game field and headed to the center platform. While shooting at the robots, Jason noticed they were slowly turning to his team.
“Watch both flanks. They are coming.” Jason said calmly.
“If they all attack us, there is no way we can hold it.” Sayilin said.
Right at this moment, two teams sandwiched Jason’s team. Jason rolled into a trench and his teammates took cover behind barricades. The two teams quickly boxed Jason’s team. They shot Erikon, Idi and Orizy on the helmets. As a result, their armor suits were shut down and medic drones flew in and lifted them out of the game field. Now the two teams focused most of their fire power on Jason. He couldn’t even return fire. His chest and arms were shot.
“Jason, they really like you.” Lucis shouted as he ran to Jason.
“Take cover!” Jason shouted.
Lucis rolled undered a barricade.
Titainein and Sayilin were hiding in another trench.
Jason crawled to the end of the trench and rolled into another one. The two teams were closing to Jason, as they fought back Jason’s teammates.
“Jason, hang on!” Sayilin shouted.
Jason peeked over the trench. Suddenly, he felt a knock on his helmet. Then his armor suit lost power and he couldn’t move a step. But the two teams continued shooting at him. Bullets and lasers were pouring at Jason. He could hear his helmet cracking.
“Where is the medic drone?” Lucis yelled.
“Cover Jason!” Titainein shouted.
“Shoot the center light ball. Now!” Jason shouted.
All his teammates fired at the light ball above the center platform.
“Boom!” The light ball exploded and it was pitch black.
Jason hit the emergency button. The back of his armor suit opened and he climbed out quietly. He hid behind a barricade and said, “Sayilin, get the ball.” He was so happy that both opponent teams didn’t have a Jynese. Everyone was blind except Sayilin.
Sayilin got onto the center platform and got the ball. He gave it to Titainein and then started to take down opponent players. Even though the light emitting from his rifle barrel exposed him for less than a second, nobody was able to shoot him in that short time. After about five minutes, Sayilin gunned down every opponent players.
Later Jason and his teammates went back to the changing room and cheered around Sayilin.
Sayilin gave Jason a huge hug and said, “Man, that was brilliant!”
“You are the man, not me.” Jason said happily and punched Sayilin on the chest.
“Of course, I am the man!” Sayilin said proudly.
They all laughed happily.
Several minutes later, they calmed down and realised the oddness in the game.
“Why they all attacked Jason? And the medic drone didn’t pick up Jason.” Titainein said in a worried voice.
“You think it had something to do with Etitaeg?” Lucis asked.
“Could be.” Sayilin said.
“Oh, I thought that was over.” Idi said sadly.
“I thought that was over, too.” Orizy said disappointedly.
“Well, let me worry about that.” Jason said calmly.
“Jason, you know, they are trying to kill you.” Titainein said seriously.
“I know. Apparently they need to try harder.” Jason said happily.
“Unbelievable.” Lucis said as he shook his head.
“Man, I like you attitude. I don’t know whether it is right or not.” Sayilin said.
“Come on! Let’s feel sad for me when I am dead. Now who wants to eat?” Jason said in a cheerful voice.
“Me, me, me, me, me!” Erikon said as he shook his belly.
“How come I am not surprised?”
Everyone laughed and headed out to the dining hall.
Chapter 52
Mark got in touch with the contact provided by Aron and he was surprised to found out how little assassins and mercenaries made these days. Also it was quite common for them to wait three or four months
for the next job. Mark didn’t have that much time. He contacted one of his buddies, Pennington, who retired from the special force and now worked as a gunman for a drug dealer. They decided to meet and talked about the job opportunity. Now Mark was on the way to the earth.
The Earth, the then blue planet, was no longer suitable for living. It now looked brown, because trashes, pollutants and wreckages were floating on three fourth of its oceans and the left one fourth was yellowish or reddish depending on the day. Rich people fled from Earth and lived on Human colony on planet M74985. Now there was only one government for all Humans. Nationalities only mattered when a nation could serve its people and stand by its people. As for the only government, its functions mainly focused on containing the poor on Earth, dead or alive.
Mark stepped out of the spacecraft and walked onto the empty dusty platform. Not many people travelled to Earth these days. Under the gloomy sky, brisk wind was accompanied by rotten smell and trashes. Mark rushed into the station and removed the mark covering his nose. The place was pretty much empty.
Mark waited in the station for about seven hours and finally got in the bus he was waiting for. It was a large hover, its engine sounding like an old man coughing his lung out. After sitting on a moldy chair for 14 hours, Mark arrived at the destination. It was said this place used to be part of North America, somewhere near Rocky Mountains. It didn’t really matter, because everywhere on the earth looked pretty much the same. They all had miles of slum houses, mountains of trashes, heavily-dented roads and noisy neighbors. Mark was familiar with all these things, because he was born in a slum.
Two hours later, he arrived at a big gate guarded by several kids. If they didn’t hold rifles or pistols in their hands, they looked just like other kids, 10 to 12 years old.
“Hey, what do you think you are doing?” A short kid shouted at Mark.
“I am looking for someone.” Mark said easily.
“You are a customer?” Another kid asked.
“No.”
“Who are you looking for?” The short kid asked.