by Hao Yang
Except Jason, everyone suddenly looked scared. Jason noticed their reactions and asked, “What is it?”
“It means Etoe’s badge doesn’t exist.” Gloria said in a low voice.
“It was fine yesterday.” Zier said in a shaking voice.
Suddenly everyone realised the seriousness of the situation. They separated into two groups and scoured the cruiser. But they didn’t find Etoe, dead or alive. None of them had any appetite after the search. They just sat there quietly. Klaycon could tell Jason was wearing the ring right now. He thought about telling others about the ring, but then everyone would fight to the death for the ring. That was exactly what the eyeball wanted.
“Let’s destroy the eyeball.” Carila said.
“No, the eyeball is the reason why my father wanted me to secure this cruiser.” Klaycon said hastily.
“What is the point if we can’t get there alive?” Carila shouted.
“Calm down. We don’t really know what happened to Etoe. It might have nothing to do with the eyeball.” Zier said nervously.
“We know it has something to do with the eyeball. We all can feel it. We just don’t have the evidence.” Gloria said.
“The point is to destroy the evidence. But how can you do it on the cruiser?” Jason murmured. Suddenly, he grabbed several cookies from the table, shot out of his chair and ran out of the kitchen.
“Jason, where are you going?” Gloria shouted as she followed Jason closely.
“The engine compartment.” Jason wheezed.
Jason and Gloria soon arrived at the door of the engine compartment.
“What are you looking for?” Gloria asked.
“Do you know the bug called Yayi?” Jason asked.
“Yes, we use them to protect the engine room from intruders.” Gloria said like an expert.
“It can eat almost everything, but some materials take longer for them to digest.” Jason said as he threw the cookie at the door.
When the cookie passed through the liquid like door, thousands of Yayi flooded the room. Their light green bodies were half transparent. Jason and Gloria both saw many of the Yayi had some fiber like materials in their abdomens. It was the leftover of Etoe’s uniform.
“Now we knew how she died.” Jason said sadly.
Gloria let out a long sigh.
“But is it a suicide or murder?” Jason murmured.
“Gloria, we got companies. Come to the bridge!” Klaycon called in.
Gloria and Jason soon joined others in the bridge. There were 10 Estian combat vessels approaching the cruiser at full blast. Klaycon hailed Estian and learned they were here to escort the cruiser back to Sylareon. Estian didn’t mention anything about Liutein, but Klaycon knew it was not that simple.
“How they find us?” Zier said in surprise.
“I have no idea!” Klaycon said angrily.
“They are with Liutein. We can’t let them get on board.” Carila said.
“Can we escape?” Nissen asked nervously.
“There are 10 of them and we can’t fire our weapons.” Klaycon said in disgust.
They fell into silence.
Jason wasn’t thinking about the Estian vessels. He knew Gloria should be alright even if Estian captured the cruiser, because Gloria wasn’t from any of those powerful families. But he couldn’t leave Gloria here because of the eyeball. He motioned Gloria to follow him. After they left the bridge, Jason told Gloria his plan.
“Estian is closing in. We can’t get away.” Gloria said.
“We will. If not, the eyeball will kill us all. You have helped your friends. Now we need to save ourselves.” Jason said sincerely.
Gloria paused for several seconds and said, “OK, I will go with you.”
They ran to the rear part of the cruiser and piloted a small reconnaissance jet into the space.
Chapter 109
As soon as Jason and Gloria left in a reconnaissance jet, one of Estian vessels left the formation and followed it. The vessel hailed the jet several times, but Jason didn’t reply. He quickly engaged the fighter into the dark matter passageway. But just before they blasted off into it, the Estian vessel unleashed its missiles. Five of them followed the fighter into the passageway. Jason maneuvered the jet and dodged four missiles, but the last one hit hard on the rear of the jet. The jet lost its power, drifting in the dark passageway.
Jason checked the engine and only managed to contain the damage to a degree that it wouldn’t blow up the jet. Then he went outside to check the hull. There were several big breaches and he couldn’t do much.
Later he went back into the jet and said, “We are in big trouble.”
“We should see the good side. At least we got away from the eyeball.” Gloria mimicked Jason’s tone and smiled kindly, trying to cheer Jason up.
“Yea, that is the good side.” Jason tried to hide his anxiety. He paused there, lost in thinking.
“Jason, you alright?” Gloria asked gently.
“We need to initiate the emergency rescue procedure.” He said calmly.
“Glycan fleets will find us and they will kill you.” Gloria said caringly.
“I really hope they will find us as soon as possible. If not, we will all die here. I will be alright. I’ve dealt with Glycans on Sylareon.” Jason said as he put on a tough face.
“No, they will kill you. It can’t let that happen.”
“Gloria, do you trust me?” Jason asked emotionally.
“Yes.”
“We will be fine.” Jason said, and then initiated the procedure.
Several hours later, Glycan Fifth fleet found their vessel and rescued Gloria and Jason. Doensen, deputy chief of the Fifth fleet, had Jason locked up in a compartment. Then he interrogated Gloria. She told Doensen what happened in the training center, how they found Cruiser General Klizan and why they left the cruiser. She emphasized how Jason saved her and her friends several times. Doensen had no interest in Gloria’s love with a second class species. He cared about his brother, Doisgy, the commander of Fifth fleet and the family. What Gloria said proved his hypothesis and he decided to violate the command code and immediately ordered the fleet to sail back to planet Sylareon.
Jason was strolling back and forth in the small compartment, wondering how those Glycans would deal with him. What worried him was the ring. When those Glycans strip searched him, they took away everything. Right now he was only hoping they had no idea what that ring was.
The door suddenly opened. Gloria rushed inside and hugged Jason. They kissed passionately for several seconds.
“Are you alright?” Gloria asked caringly.
“Look at me. I am fine. How about you? Did they give you any hard time?” Jason said easily.
“You still worry about me? You are the one in trouble.” Gloria said sincerely.
“I am always in trouble.” Jason joked.
“You are right about that. Now we need to get you out of here. I told the commander the truth about how you save me and others, but it seems that he doesn’t care.” Gloria said sadly.
“Not surprise. You have a plan?”
“Wait until the night. I will pull the fire alarm. Then I will get you out of here. There are fighter jets in the hangar.” Gloria said hastily.
“Gloria, listen to me. Don’t do that. If they found out, I don’t know how to save you. You hear. This is a fleet. There are more than 300 vessel and we are right in the middle of it. Even if I left this vessel, I can’t go far.” Jason said patiently.
Gloria fell into silence, casting her eyes down.
“Gloria, look at me.” Jason said with a kind smile.
Gloria raised her head and looked Jason into his eyes.
“If anything happen to you, I won’t forgive myself. In that case, I would rather die.” Jason said emotionally.
Gloria kissed Jason on his lips. They held each other tight in arms.
“Knock! Knock! Knock!”
“Jason, I will figure something out. I will save
you. I can’t live without you.” Gloria said and ran out of the compartment.
Chapter 110
Once Kalan got far enough from the hall, he was able to get in touch with Neiteo who had no idea what happened. Neiteo was in hospital and Liutein apparently forgot him. He managed to find a small transporter and picked up Kalan from the forest. Since they didn’t have the code from Klizan, they couldn’t mobilize the Seventh fleet that was being resupplied in colony TA-13 on planet Aluthen. Kalan did have the emergency code at his home, but in order to use the emergency code, the fleet commander must present the code in person. The problem was Kalan knew Liutein must have soldiers check every vessel leaving Sylareon.
Later, Neiteo made an excuse and requested to be transferred to a hospital on another planet. Before Neiteo boarded the vessel for his trip, he hid Kalan at the bottom of his bed and they passed the checking points successfully.
Once General Kalan arrived at planet Aluthen, he swiftly took the full control of the fleet. Then he contacted Klaycon and learned that 10 Estian vessels were traveling with them on the way to Sylareon. The only good news was Estian didn’t find out about the Hylocan eyeball. Klaycon also mentioned the missing crew, but Kalan was not in the mood to solve that puzzle. He quickly established the communication with other fleets. All deputy chiefs didn’t believe that he said except one. Doensen immediately realized that Kalan was telling the truth. They decided to regroup as soon as possible.
Several hours later, Kalan met Doensen on the flag vessel of Fifth fleet.
“How do you know about what happened on Sylareon and training center?” Kalan asked directly.
“That was quite a coincidence. I got that intel from a Glycan trainee named Gloria.” Doensen sounded like he couldn’t believe that either.
“Gloria? How can that be possible?” Kalan asked in surprise.
Doensen further explained what Gloria told him and he also mentioned the Human.
“Jason. It is him again. This time I will kill him right now!” Kalan said angrily.
“You probably don’t want to do that.” Doensen said calmly.
“Why?”
“This.” Doensen said as he handed a black ring to Kalan.
Kalan took it over and scrutinized it for several seconds. He looked at Doensen in surprise and said, “This is real. This is the ring!”
“That was my reaction when I saw it.” Doensen chuckled.
“That Human had this ring? How come?” Kalan asked.
“I don’t know. But we can find out.”
They had several soldiers bring Jason to the bridge and put the ring on his hand. The words showed up on his palm.
“I am surprised that I didn’t find the ring when Lisania was imprisoned on planet Agirue.” Kalan said easily.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself!” Jason said ironically.
“Thank you.” Kalan said with an evil smile, and then punched Jason on his face.
Held by four Glycan soldiers, Jason couldn’t even move his hands, but he didn’t give in. He laughed and said, “You fight like a girl. You know that?”
Kalan grinned slightly as his black uniform transformed into an armor suit.
“Clank!” A dagger popped out of his fist.
“You really like talking, don’t you?” Kalan said as he slowly stabbed the dagger into Jason’s right cheek. It went through his mouth and came out from the other side.
Jason was trembling, blood dripping down from his face.
Kalan pulled the dagger out and shouted, “Take him away!”
Doensen waited until those soldiers took away Jason and said, “I actually thought you would kill him.”
“We both know if the Hylocan queen gave this Human the ring, the queen will come back for him. We can use him to hunt down Hylocan. But right now I only care about my family. I mean our families.” Kalan said hastily.
“You want to attack Liutein just like this, with two fleets? Even if the fleets protecting Sylareon didn’t fight with us, we can’t take down the palace.”
“That is true. We need other fleets. But they don’t believe what I said.”
“When I heard this from the girl Gloria, I thought she was crazy. But then you said the same thing.” Doensen said in an understanding voice.
“That is why we need to get the cruiser! There is a weapon on that cruiser and we need it.” Kalan said firmly.
“What kind of weapon?”
“You won’t believe me. Anyway when you see it, you will understand.”
“OK. But right now there are 10 Estian vessels around the cruiser.”
“Together we have more than 600 vessels. They will run for their lives before we get close.” Klizan said confidently.
“If they don’t have reinforcement. Sure.” Doensen said cautiously.
“I will keep in touch with my son. Set the course.” Klan said decisively.
The two fleets slowly merged into one flow and entered the dark matter passageway.
Chapter 111
Accompanied by Estian’s combat vessels, the cruiser was sailing slowly to Sylareon. Klaycon made up some excuse to buy some time for his father. The death of Etoe really got on their nerves and they were so scared that nobody dared to sleep. They stayed together in the bridge and did everything in groups including going to the restroom. They couldn’t wait to get off this cruiser.
When Gloria and Jason left the cruiser, Klaycon actually felt happy for her. That was why he didn’t try to stop them. He also found out Yayi killed Etoe but he didn’t know how. What he couldn’t understand was if the eyeball did it, why it didn’t kill them all at once. He reviewed the captain’s log again and still couldn’t figure out what happened.
Tired and bored, Klaycon was thinking about the weird dreams he had. In one of the dreams, Carila, Gloria, Nissen, Zier and he were walking with Etoe. They said something to her when they reached the engine compartment. Then they left and only Etoe stayed there. He decided to check out the engine compartment. He asked everyone to come along with him.
Being famous for its wide appetite, Yayi was the only living creature on planet Egewe. Even though it didn’t have eyes or ears, it had extremely sensitive sense of smell. It simply followed the smell and attacked. Glycan found that if something had a smell resembling the sand scent on planet Egewe, Yayi wouldn’t attack it. Therefore, they coated the engine room and the compartment designated for keeping Yayi with a paint that had such smell. Every Glycan military vessel applied this method to guard the dark engine.
Klaycon and others went to the dark engine compartment and checked the door.
“I saw this door before.” Zier said.
“I had a dream that we came here and did something.” Klaycon said in an uncertain tone.
“I had the same dream.” Carila sighed.
“Something like that.” Nissen muttered
“Is it possible that those bugs come out of the compartment and killed Etoe?” Klaycon murmured.
“I am so tired. I can’t think straight.” Carila whined.
“Maybe the eyeball could control those bugs.” Klaycon said.
“I don’t know.” Zier said tiredly.
They stayed there for a while, but couldn’t find anything out of place. When Zier stood very close to the liquid door, Klaycon suddenly had an extremely strong impulse to push Zier. He backed off from Zier and fought against this thought. Then he noticed Carila and Nissen were acting just like him. The moment Zier turned around, that impulse disappeared. Klaycon, Carila and Nissen breathed heavily as if they just finished marathon.
“What’s going on?” Zier asked curiously.
“I don’t know. It seems that I wanted to push you into the compartment.” Nissen said in a scared voice.
“What?” Zier was frightened.
“Same here.” Carila said, her voice shaking.
“I hope I didn’t push Etoe.” Nissen said in a low voice.
“Me too.” Klaycon murmured.
“War
ning! Warning! Warning!” A robotic voice struck everyone.
They quickly ran back to the bridge and were shocked at the view outside. Estian vessels were shooting at each other with missiles, lasers and cannons. The explosions lightened up the surrounding space like supernova. The fight lasted less than a minute and all Estian vessels broke into pieces, leaving a debris field kilometers long.
“Why they shot each other?” Nissen asked.
“The eyeball did it?” Zier said in a doubting voice.
“I don’t know.” Klaycon said in a low tone. He was worried that the same thing might happen to his father’s fleet.
Chapter 112
Jason squeezed himself in a corner. His cheeks were still bleeding and his tongue was almost cut in half. He could feel blood spewing from his tongue. It hurt like hell. He slowly stood up and looked out of the porthole. Right now, the fleet was approaching Cruiser General Klizan. Jason didn’t see any Estian vessel. While he was wondering why Estian left, he noticed the massive debris field. He had a hunch that the eyeball did all this and he realised that the same thing could happen to this Glycan fleet as well. He was worried about Gloria, but there was nothing he could do. Jason sighed in frustration and crouched down in the corner.
After a long while, he suddenly heard a voice in his head. He stood up and dashed to the door. There was no one outside.
“Jason! Jason!” The voice came again.
“Who…” Jason was about to open his mouth, but the pain stopped him.
“You don’t need to speak out. Just think what you want to say.”
“Alright, who are you?”
“I am Lisania.”
“I saw this name when I put on the ring.”
“Yes, I gave you the ring. Jason, I thought I could forget you, but I can’t. I just can’t. I love you.”
“Sorry. I don’t remember you, but my friend told me about you.”
“I am sorry. It took this long.”
“How did you find me?”
“First I tried Guardian Fleet training center and then I went to Earth. Later I picked up a signal from the ring. I followed the signal and here I am.”