Dark Universe & Forbidden Love

by Hao Yang

  Jason threw up everything in his stomach, coughing and gasping for several minutes.

  “Process him!” Hwoei shouted.

  Two guards couldn’t wait Jason stood on his feet and dragged him into the decontamination room. After that, the guards removed the chains and cuffs on Jason’s body and kicked him into another small cubic. Jason stripped naked like he was ordered and soon some kind of liquid flooded into the cubic. It only took a second to fill the cubic full and Jason was struggling for air. Before Jason drowned to death, the liquid was sucked away. He kneeled on the floor, too tired to stand up. A guard came in, kicked his belly and pulled his hair, dragging him to the next room. There he got his new clothes, a blue prison uniform.

  “Put it on in one minute or go back to the water room!” The guard said coldly.

  Jason felt his head spinning, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He quickly put on the uniform and stumbled into a prison block. It had the size of five football fields with a 10 floor high ceiling. Hundreds of cells were packed on every side. In the center, there was a watch tower with airborne drones cycling it.

  Watched by the flying drones, Jason headed to his cell. The moment he walked in those bars slammed home. Except a bed, a sink and a toilet, there was only a square meter left in the cell. Jason slowly sat on the hard bed. He knew this was just the start.

  Chapter 121

  “Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” The blaring alarm sounded in the entire prison block.

  Jason woke up in pain, his cheeks hurting like hell, his face swollen like a rotten tomato, his eye filled with red veins. He sat on the edge of the bed and saw other prisoners dressing up themselves in a hurry. He quickly put on his uniform. Then all bars opened. All prisoners stepped out of their cells and stood still. Hundreds of drones flew out of the center tower, scanning the prisoners in that area. After some 30 seconds, all drones returned to the center tower.

  “Roll out!”

  All prisoners headed to the ground floor and then went to the dining hall. More than 2000 prisoners were eating on different levels of the dining hall. About half of the prisoners were first class species and there was no segregation between first and second class species. Jason only saw several Humans and that was about it. He joined the flow and reached the food serving bench. He noticed the amount of food was different from one to another. When it was his turn, the robot first scanned his face and gave him more than what other prisoners got.

  “New guy, huh?” A Glycan behind Jason said jealously.

  Jason was wondering how he knew that, but he didn’t ask. He quickly found a table and sat down.

  “Enjoy your first meal. Fresh fish.” An Estian said as he walked by Jason.

  Several nearby prisoners checked Jason’s plate. One of them was a skinny Human. He moved to Jason’s table and said, “Hey, yo just got here, right?”

  “Yea, yesterday.” Jason said coldly.

  “I know. You see, the first breakfast of every new guy is always big and heavy. I remember my first one. Oh, by the way, I am Luee.” The skinny guy said as he kept peeking at Jason’s plate.

  Jason saw Luee’s plate had only one third of what he had, so he gave Luee a piece of bread.

  “Thanks, man. Thanks.” Luee said quickly and gobbled it.

  “So there is some rule about the food?” Jason asked.

  “Well, we only eat twice a day. Breakfast and supper. How much food you get depends on how much work you have done. You know this is also a mining facility, right?” Luee said hastily as he gulped down his food.

  “I read it somewhere.”

  “You will know when you have your supper today.”

  Jason looked around and thought about what Luee just said. That might explain why he couldn’t find a fat guy here.

  “What’s your name?” Luee asked.

  “Jason.”

  “You from Earth or colony?”

  “I was on Eva-1.”

  “You are fucking kidding. That belongs to Guardian Fleet. You are saying you are a member of Guardian Fleet?” Luee sneered.

  “Technically, no. I was a trainee, so I am not a member of Guardian Fleet.” Jason said seriously.

  “Shit. Prove it.”

  Jason suddenly lost steam. He knew he was no longer a trainee. He casted his eyes down and gobbled his food.

  “Man, I gotta tell you. Those fellows hate you for now.” Luee said quietly.

  “Why is that?”

  “You see, whenever a new shipment came in, they bet on whether it will make it or not. You made it. I heard Hwoei lost a lot of money on you.”

  “That might explain why he gave me a very warm welcome.” Jason said in disgust.

  “I know what you mean.” Luee said in sympathy.

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Nine years.”

  Jason wanted to ask something, but the alarm sounded again. He quickly finished everything on his plate and followed others to the working site.

  It only took about five seconds for the guards to decide Jason’s job. They threw him in the rock breaking team. The only tool Jason got was a sledgehammer and what he did all day was hitting rocks with it. Jason soon learned that there were gems in those asteroids and some of them were extremely valuable. Flying drones were monitoring every prisoner and collecting what they got from rocks. For those prisoners who found gems, they would have a better supper. Jason wasn’t lucky on his first day. When he was having his supper, he begun to understand Luee’s words.

  Chapter 122

  It was the second day since Glycan fleets gathered at the outer layer defense line. Klaycon didn’t understand what Kalan was waiting for. He wanted to fight and be a hero himself, not just Kalan’s son or Klizan’s grandson. However, his father still treated him as a kid and kept him out of the loop.

  Right now he was having lunch with his friends Zier, Nissen and Carila on the flag vessel of Seventh fleet.

  “I got some news, after that Estian incident, thousands of police surrounded the palace.” Nissen said happily as he was chewing.

  “Maybe they are there to protect the royal family. The police force don’t have the firepower to take down the palace.” Zier said like an expert.

  “At least nobody is coming out of the palace. What do you think, Klaycon?” Carila said happily.

  “Ah. I don’t know.” Klaycon simply didn’t know what Carila was asking.

  “Man, you look lost.” Nissen said.

  “Let me guess, you are thinking how to save Klizan, right?” Zier said confidently.

  “So you also thought about it.” Klaycon said slowly.

  “Do you have any plan?” Zier asked.

  “What about you?”

  “If we can get in while your father was attacking the palace, we might have a chance. Otherwise four guys like us couldn’t really stand a fight.” Zier said.

  “If you wait until that time, that will be too late. If you don’t take the risk, you will always end up lagging behind. We either make our names or we die.” Klaycon said firmly.

  “Man, I am totally in.” Nissen said excitedly.

  “What about you, Carila?” Klaycon asked.

  “Well, you seem helpless without me.” Carila said confidently.

  Even though Klaycon and his friends decided to rescue General Klizan, they had no idea where to start. In order to gather some intel, Klaycon bugged his father and learned that Kalan sent out five teams to Sylareon on the very first day they reached the assembly point. They were still trying to locate Klizan. Nissen, Zier and Carila also tried to pull some intel, but Nissen and Carila still couldn’t get in touch with their families. Zier managed to contact his father Zserie and learned that Klizan might be kept at the underground city beneath palace. This didn’t really mean anything. The palace had a history of millions of years and so did the city right beneath it. Generation after generation the city had expanded well beyond the surface structures. It had everything including but not limited to water factor
ies, power plants, greenhouses, livestock farms, prisons and even a cremator. It could stand any type of attack as long as the planet was still there. On off the chance they didn’t get lost in it, there was no way they could find Klizan.

  Klaycon found another solution and they were now hiding in a cargo vessel that delivered dairy products to the palace on the daily basis.

  “If I know this is your plan before hand, at least I can put on more clothes.” Zier wheezed.

  “Yea, well, I didn’t know it until I saw the vessel.” Klaycon said.

  “So you don’t know where it is heading?” Carila asked in surprise.

  “If you mean the exact landing spot, no.” Klaycon said uneasily.

  “Then what is your plan?” Carila asked.

  “Some soldiers will come aboard to check the vessel. We kill them and put on their clothes.” Klaycon said calmly.

  The cargo vessel landed on the verge of the palace before the first light of the dawn. The gate slowly lifted and five Glycan soldiers walked in leisurely checking around.

  Hiding behind a big barrel, Klaycon motioned Zier and Carila to move to the two soldiers near the gate. He and Nissen were approaching the other three. Both Zier and Carila jumped from behind the containers and shot the two soldiers dead. Hearing the gunshot, the other three soldiers swiftly aimed their rifles at Zier and Carila, but before they could pull the triggers, Klaycon and Nissen attacked them from both sides. They killed two and seriously wounded one.

  Klaycon and his friends quickly put on those soldiers’ uniforms. As Zier was rubbing blood off the uniform, he noticed a piece of skull with number 1342 on it. Zier pointed it out to others and they realised that those dead soldiers were not real Glycans. They left the vessel and went into the palace.

  Chapter 123

  Klaycon and his friends were quickly approaching the center area where royal members resided at. Guards were everywhere and they saw dozens of robots transporting luggage and boxes.

  “They are leaving.” Zier murmured.

  “Let’s follow them. Maybe our families are there.” Nissen said quietly.

  “No. Let’s see where those robots come from.” Klaycon said firmly.

  Just after Klaycon and his friends stepped into a hall, he saw Lreque walking them. Klaycon quickly lowered his head, but when he glanced over at the guards following Lreque, he noticed that several of them had tiny blood spots on their shoes. Then he peeked at Lreque. His hands were shaking and his forehead was covered with sweat. Klaycon suddenly realized something was wrong. He winked at the other three and they followed those guards in the distance to the underground city.

  After going down numerous levels, Klaycon and his friends reached a recently-built area. It was more like a maze. There were only several robots patrolling the area. Lreque stopped in front of a wall, removed a wedge and inserted his crystal in the slot. The wall melt away and Lreque walked in, followed closely by those guards. Then the wall restored its original shape.

  “Damn, what is that?” Nissen marveled.

  “Look like memory liquid metal.” Zier said.

  “There is no way we get through that door.” Carila said.

  “We don’t need to.” Klaycon said as he pointed at the vent above their heads.

  When the patrolling robots were out of sight, they removed the vent cover and got into the ventilation shaft. Klaycon had no idea where those shafts led to. He simply followed the distant voice he could barely hear and kept crawling. On their way, there were dozens of motion sensors and they carefully disabled them. After about 10 minutes, Klaycon reached a vent where the distance voice came from. He could hear two Glycans talking, but he couldn’t see them.

  “Did the king know?”

  “Yea, Lreque just reported it.”

  “They are in the room across the hall right now.”

  “I told you Kalan would attack. You see what I mean now?”

  Klaycon believed this was the conversation between two officers. Now he knew Lreque and Liutein were in a room across the hall. He kept crawling for about 10 meters and reached another vent. This time he heard a familiar voice.

  “Kalan really think they could just send a dozen soldiers and save Klizan. They really think I will hide him in my palace.”

  “It will take them forever to find him. But my king, do you think the captain was telling the truth?”

  “That they are here to kill Klizan?”

  “That will be crazy.”

  “But they did manage to catch you. There might be others. Sweep the palace.”

  “Right away!”

  Klaycon immediately realised one of them was Liutein. Judging by the tread of their footsteps, Klaycon could tell that they were getting closer and closer. Then he saw Liutein right below him through the vent.

  Just after Liutein passed below the vent, he suddenly stopped. He took a deep sniff and asked, “You smell that?”

  “Smell what?” Lreque said in confusion.

  Liutein looked up at the ceiling and focused on the vent. He gave a brittle smile, his clothes transforming into an armor suit, a dagger popping out of his right fist. Then he jumped upwards thrusting the dagger at the vent. The dagger busted through the cover and just missed Klaycon’s chest.

  Klaycon motioned his friends to back off, but he didn’t move.

  “Klaycon, what are you waiting for?” Zier said in a low tone as he crawled backwards.

  Klaycon took a deep breath and said, “Throw me a tracer. Now!”

  Just at this moment, another strike came through the cover and cut Klaycon’s arm.

  “Here.” Zier hurled a button like trace to Klaycon. Klaycon caught it and swallowed it.

  “Don’t come out. Stay quiet!” Klaycon said hastily. Then he kicked the vent open, jumped out and landed two meters away from Liutein.

  “I know I smell something.” Liutein said with an evil grin.

  Klaycon looked around. Except Liutein and Lreque, six guards were surrounding him, rifles in hands.

  “You don’t stand a chance!” Lreque said coldly.

  “How about one on one?” Klaycon asked angrily.

  “Why not?” Liutein said happily.

  Klaycon threw away his rifle, his uniform transforming into an armor suit. Then he dashed towards Liutein swinging a dagger to his head. Liutein dodged down, grasped Klaycon’s arm and threw him over his shoulder. Klaycon slumped hard on the ground. When he just stood up, Liutein kicked him on the belly and then punched him on the head. Klaycon fell on his knees.

  “So this is the champion in the selection. I am very disappointed. I heard Klizan like you very much.” Liutein said as he ready to strike Klaycon.

  “I hope you are right.” Klaycon sneered.

  Liutein smiled and bunched Klaycon on his head. The heavy blow sent Klaycon into coma.

  Chapter 124

  When Klaycon woke up again, he found himself fastened on a blood-smeared chair, facing a big glass box in a steel-made room. Klaycon tried to stand up but could only move his neck. He didn’t know how long he had slept. But judging by the pain on his head, he believed it could be several hours. He hoped his friends got here before it was too late.

  After about an hour, Klaycon heard the tread of footsteps. The door behind him slid open. Liutein walked in and said, “We both know your time is up. Actually, I am counting on you to make Klizan talk.”

  “Keep dreaming.” Klaycon laughed.

  Liutein smiled and pressed a button on the wall. Klizan was slowly lowered into the glass box from the ceiling. Klizan was strapped on a chair just like Klaycon. He looked gaunt and sick, like someone suffering years of diseases, his eyes sinking in sockets, his face pale and ragged.

  “General Klizan, take a look at your grandson.” Liutein shouted proudly.

  Klizan slowly raised his head and glanced over at Klaycon, showing no emotion at all.

  Liutein waited for several seconds and said, “I guess I was wrong.” Then he laid a knife on Klaycon�
�s neck.

  “Boom! Boom! Boom!” A series of explosions penetrated the floor. Then the entire floor fell on the lower level. Everything was soaked in dust and smoke.

  Liutein quickly regained his balance and ran for his life.

  Klaycon was still suffering the pain from the fall. Several figures ran towards him and the glass box, gunning down the guards struggling to stand up.

  A soldier reached Klaycon and cut him loose.

  Five soldiers cut open the glass box with lasers and freed Klizan from the chair. While they were carrying him out, Liutein’s guards started the counter-attack and poured bullets into the hole. The soldiers carrying Klizan fell down like dominos and covered Klizan under them.

  The rescue team fired back but barely hold the ground. In the meantime, Klaycon and two soldiers pulled Klizan out from the body pile.

  “Get out!” The captain of the rescue team shouted.

  Klaycon carried Klizan on his back and ran to the tunnel at the far side of the room, followed by the captain and four soldiers. Some 10 soldiers were covering for them, but Liutein’s guards were taking them down quickly.

  “Hurry! Move!” The Captain shouted as Klaycon and others jumped into the tunnel. Liutein’s guards were running towards the tunnel.

  “Boom!” The captained bombed the entrance and sealed the tunnel. The shockwave knocked Klayon and others on the ground.

  “Grandpa, are you OK?” Klaycon asked caringly as he struggled to stand up.

  “I am fine.” Klizan said tiredly.

  The captain walked to Klizan and said, “General Klizan. I am captain Deoei.”

  “Captain, call in backup right away.” Klizan said weakly.

  “Yes, general. Let’s keep moving. We will take a break later.” Deoei said hastily.

  “Captain, my friends are OK?” Klaycon asked in a worried tone.

  “They are fine. By the way, how did you know Liutein would take you to General Klizan?” Deoei asked.

  “I didn’t know.” Klaycon said easily.

  “You are very brave.” Deoei said respectfully.