by Angel Medina
He was still in shock of his grandmother who had raised him since the age of three when his mother accepted the fact she couldn’t care for Luis showed her face to him. He still has numerous pictures of him and his grandmother back on Earth, but to find out she was his guardian Angel was an even bigger shock to him.
“Abuela! Te quiere mucho, Deseo que usted era todavía aquí. Pero yo tiende que la cosa pasa para un razón.” He says that he wishes his grandmother was still alive, but understands that things happen for a reason.
“Yo siempre voy esta aquí con tigo en espíritu. Luis te quede mucho, adiós para ahora.” Luis’s grandmother says goodbye for now and that she loves him in spirit.
Luis who is still stunned gets inside his spaceship and prepares to head towards Mars, his next target. He thinks about what he has just gone through and compares it to what Angel had experienced in the first adventure. He wasn’t a medium or was he a believer in mediums, but even this is a shock for him. Nevertheless he is happy that he got to see his grandmother again even if it was just in spirit form. More importantly he had been saved from getting crushed by a rock creature in Saturn. Even with that many more questions come up than answers for our hero Luis.
“Good job there Luis… Hey are you ok? What’s wrong?” Quentin asks Luis.
“Nothing… Nothing’s wrong. I’m on my way to Mars.” He had no idea if Quentin understood spirits or believed in them for that matter. He headed out for Mars where the next mission was awaiting him.
“Abuela, you may be gone, but I will always have you in spirit.” Luis says in his head.
Chapter 7
Uranus
After escaping the asteroid belt, Maria and Dayvon head for Uranus which is much closer to Earth than what it’s supposed to be. They don’t know much about Uranus other than it is a cold planet and one that is mostly composed of gas. Legend has it that Uranus had no terrain or solid ground and that the planet is simply a gas giant. Nevertheless there is a gravity tower detected on the planet. What does the gas giant have in store for our heroes, if anything?
“Well there she goes the big blue gas giant. I wonder who lives here the fart master. Hehehe!” Dayvon jokily says.
“Careful Dayvon that fart might just kill you! Besides with these suits we won’t be able to smell any gas or feel too much cold.” Maria replies.
“I wouldn’t be so sure Maria. Uranus is a planet that we don’t know much about, the amount of gas and the composition of it may breach your suits. In other words there is a probably a limit to how much gas you can take and a limit on temperature. Check your HOD’s (Heads on Display) and the same goes for your ships. Just knock out the gravity tower and get out of there. The deeper we have to go into Uranus the greater the chance you guys may get hurt or worse.” Quentin corrects Maria.
“Well anyway there’s Uranus and here comes the enemy! Let’s go!” Dayvon says remaining confident.
A mixture of Invader II series ships, space dragons that can vaporize in the middle of space and butterfly bots come after the duo. Dayvon and Maria shoot the approaching enemy ships, while continuing their approach to Uranus. While the two are able to take out the ships with no trouble the dragons prove to be more of a challenge. The Uranuian dragons that are native to Uranus prove to be lethal. The dragons are able to spread and breathe out poisonous blue colored gases that can penetrate the ships into the heroes. At the same time the dragons can simply slam into its victim ship. Finally if the dragon is shot at, first of all there is no guarantee that our heroes could kill it, and second if it’s shot it could vaporize into thin air and reappear.
The heroes find a clever way to kill the dragons. Maria would distract the dragon and Dayvon would shoot the dragon before it could vaporize. While it is a good plan it doesn’t always work and when the heroes enter the atmosphere of Uranus the negative effects started to kick in just as Quentin suggested.
“Make sure you stay away from the pure surface, your ship can’t take it. Wow these temperatures are off the charts cold! These ships can handle temperatures up to -2000 degrees, but the temperatures here at certain points are doubling that.” Quentin says concerned,
The two travel through the atmosphere of Uranus and they take out the glooba ships that are able to sustain the extreme cold. However it isn’t so much the gloobas that give our heroes problems, instead it’s the nature of Uranus itself. The Uranuian dragons are even tougher to take out in their homeland. The planet of Uranus is uninhabitable for human population, but with its properties of cold and gas the gloobas thought no one would be foolish enough to mess with them here. The planet is filled with gas, with the occasional body of water but no real surface. Concern started to grow because the only “surface” was in the icy core and in theory a spacecraft won’t be able to land, instead it will be “stuck” inside without the ability to escape.
“Arghhhh! My chest is feeling heavy, the gas is getting strong! I’m still fine though!” Dayvon reassures Maria and Quentin over the radio.
The dragons shoot their poisonous gas that causes the two to have respiratory problems. Luckily for the two of them the ships along with their suits kept the majority of the poisonous gas out of their system, something that would normally kill them. However the two of them notice that the toxicity levels in the ships are going up rapidly. The dragons have to be killed and fast before the heroes are gassed out.
“Dayvon distract him! I have a clear shot, shit he disappeared. Oh no there’s a dragon right on top of me.” Maria says in panic after she is unable to kill off the dragon.
“Hold on Maria I got you!” Dayvon shoots his lasers and hits the dragon. “Gotcha! What do you say Maria?”
“Thanks Dayvon really thanks. No smart cracks this time around. Whoa, watch out a dragon behind you!” Maria shoots the Uranuian dragon returning the favor to Dayvon.
“You guys are doing better than I thought you would be doing.” Quentin says.
“What is that supposed to mean poindexter?” Dayvon asks Quentin.
“Nothing…Nothing…” The communication gets cut off.
“Shit we’re in too deep for Quentin to talk to us. We gotta be careful; there might be some truth to what “Q” said if we aren’t careful.”
“Look Dayvon puffs of gas just floating around.” Maria says in amazement.
“Maria you fool get away from there that’s shit is poisonous.” Dayvon screams towards Maria.
Despite Dayvon’s warning Maria gets caught in the gas cloud and the cloud begins to eat up her ship. The gas is rapidly getting inside Maria’s ship and her ship is sinking closer to the “surface”.
“Do a barrel roll Maria that might get rid of the gas cloud off the ship. Hurry up, you don’t have much time!” Dayvon screams at the top of his lungs hoping Maria hears him.
Maria is able to hear Dayvon’s cry and with all her energy she does a barrel roll getting rid of the gas cloud. She is eventually able to raise her ship to the same altitude as Dayvon. The duo sees pure blue in front of them along with ice birds flying. Many of them just flying innocently, but others become hostile towards the two. Dayvon is tempted to use a smart bomb, but sees the cold weather has disabled the smart bombs. The two of them shoot together killing as many of the hostile birds as possible.
The Uranuian ice bird is native to Uranus. It is mostly a harmless bird. However at times especially when disturbed they can become very hostile and attack in groups. Well at least any living thing that had the balls and equipment to enter the planet. It is a phoenix like bird in ice formation.
That gives the two the idea that they are getting close to the center of the planet and the gravity tower. Maria flies ahead of Dayvon without wanting too. The boosters begin to malfunction and the boosters begin to go off when they want to. A gang of three ice birds begin to attack Dayvon from behind and begin to peck at his ship. While the ship wasn’t damaged too much it was the cold touch that was killing Dayvon.
“It’s too cold in here! I can’
t take it anymore! I’m not your buddy go away!” Dayvon screams while trying to fly his ship and lose the birds. However his efforts are as good as worthless, the birds remain behind him like white on rice.
Maria sees the birds attacking him and her instincts tell her to shoot the birds. However she had to be careful to not shoot him at the same time. She grabs the controls nervously and sweating at the same time, which is saying a lot considering the two are in an extremely cold environment. She shivers because she is cold and nervous, but she knows the life of Dayvon depends on her.
“Here I come! Here take this you bird brains, leave my friend alone.” Maria says in semi-confidence knowing on the inside the butterflies were flying like crazy.
Maria shoots her lasers carefully and she is able to hit all three of the birds perfectly, but one shot does hit Dayvon. Luckily it only sideswipes him.
“Nice shooting there Maria, I don’t mind you hitting me. Besides thought I was going to freeze to death for a moment there!” He says in gratitude to Maria.
“We must be getting close to the center of Uranus?” Maria asks.
“I guess so. It’s not like we have Quentin to guide us, we lost transmission to him.” Dayvon answers Maria.
The two continue on their way to the center of Uranus. They shoot ice birds, dragons and avoid gas clouds. Whenever they got caught by a gas cloud they would do a barrel roll to get it off.
Maria has ice birds chasing her, but she does a summersault with her ship and shoots the birds who foolishly continue ahead.
“I can’t help but to think that the gravity here should be weaker and once that tower goes down we’re in for a bumpy ride.” Maria says as the two approach the center of Uranus.
They enter an ice cave with gas clouds inside and getting the blues as the surrounding area is all blue. As the duo enters the core of the cave a humongous gas cloud approaches in front of the glooba gravity tower. The gas isn’t Uranuian in nature however; it was artificially created by the gloobas. The gas is black and huge in nature. The temperature begins to fall and toxicity levels begin to rise. The gas turns into a bulls head and it begins to shoot energy balls. The two realize that they don’t have much time. They would either die of poison or die of hypothermia. Dayvon and Maria work together to take out the weak spots on the bulls head, however the gas changes shape.
“Shit how do we defeat something made out of gas?” Dayvon asks.
“I have no idea, but we better think of something and fast!” Maria screams as she begins to lose feeling on her thumbs.
The gas turns into a huge dragon. The two keep on shooting and they show no quit. The dragon shoots off energy balls and tail whips hitting the surface around it. The two are able to keep up with the dragon fighting the cold and toxicity levels. They can’t seem to find a weak spot on the dragon at all and rightfully so as the dragon was made up of gas. The dragon tries to grab Maria, but she somehow is able to move out of the way and Dayvon is able to dodge its tail whip. The two begin to experience the effects of the cold and toxicity, beginning to experience significant weakness.
“Come on Maria… we can’t give up… yet… I…” Dayvon say weakly as he loses his consciousness.
“Dayvon… come on we… can do this…I feel so numb… like… I’m dead…” Maria says before she falls into unconsciousness.
The two of them begin to pass out from the extreme cold and toxic gas. Maria and Dayvon fall unconsciously on the floor and the dragon prepares to swallow the two. The dragon looks on arrogantly and an alien voice in the background says, “Hahaha! It’s hopeless for you two! You were fools to come in here, let alone even come into this virtual world, for I will be the new ruler of the universe!” Sounds like the new emperor of the glooba race. “Dragongas finish the fools off!” The voice sounded eerie familiar, like it’s from someone from the past. No one could be sure though of who was behind the mic.
It looks hopeless for our heroes, it is only a matter of time before Maria and Dayvon are completely dead. Will anyone come to the aid of the two? Will any good spirits that remain in the virtual world give our heroes a push or have our heroes reached the end of their lives and possibly the very existence of Earth itself. Only time will tell.
Chapter 8(A)
Galaxy Y
Unlike Dayvon and Maria, Angel finds himself in the northern most part of the newly formed solar system. He leaves Fincina to head for Fortuna, which is rumored to be the cousin planet of Earth. However, Angel runs into a space base that is owned by the gloobas in the Galaxy Y section. Quentin also warns Angel that the area is prone to black hole creation and Angel is aware of what black holes are capable of. Last thing Angel needs is to be transported to a world where he can never escape or experience what is considered to be a normal life.
Angel flies away from Fincina and begins to head towards Fortuna. Angel wonders how the others are doing so he gives Luis a call.
“Hey Luis.”
“Hey Angel just got out of Saturn, heading for Mars next.”
“Good Job Luis, it’s good to hear you’re still alive.” Angel says in relief and he hangs up.
Angel gives a call to Dayvon and Maria without knowing that they are in Uranus nearly dead. Angel doesn’t get a response from either one, so he quickly calls Quentin.
“Hey Quentin where are Dayvon and Maria? I haven’t heard anything from them lately.”
“I’m afraid I know as much as you do. Last I checked they fought through the asteroid belt and they were in Uranus. After that I lost contact with them, anything could have happened.” Quentin says in disappointment almost ready to cry.
“No anywhere but Uranus that planet has no surface or that is what I was taught.” He answers to Quentin while slamming the controls.
“All I know its cold as hell and the gas out there is crazy. I sense that my dear wife and my dear friend need my help, but I’m too far away to give it. Maria if you could hear me, I’m sending my spirit over to help you out. I love you so much, may this spirit come guide you out of whatever trouble you may be in, just like when yours came to support me in my time of need.” Angel says almost like he was doing a prayer.
Angel sees a glooba base up ahead which used to belong to NASA. He sees flying robots beginning to shoot in his direction being powered by twin boosters. He shoots the robots (Shogun Robots cause they had the look of a samurai) and while he has trouble taking them out at first because of their speed he is able to take them out eventually. The robots split into three pieces then explode. The area is surrounded by alien ships, but many are low class ships known as triangle fighters because of their shape. They would normally attack in formations, but because of this very reason Angel could take formations out in one charged shot. Angel sees the outside part of the base begins to fall apart and sees the glooba base ahead.
“It’s quiet, too quiet.” Angel says.
“Be careful it’s a trap, they’re attack from above!” Quentin warns Angel as bombs begins to fall from above.
The bombs miss Angel completely and Angel goes up in altitude to take out the triangle fighters. At this point he sees this as target practice, as the fighters offer very little resistance. He heads into the entrance of the glooba base, where turrets begin to shoot at him. He does a barrel roll to deflect the laser shots aimed at him and shoots the turrets down. He enters the bases through a small hole big enough just to fit his ship. He sees more turrets and shoots them down. At the same time walls would come down or sideways trying to cause him to crash his ship. He maneuvers the ship to the right, left, up or down when necessary, pretty much just in the nick of time barely missing the walls.
Angel heads back outside and finds the base is rather vast in size. He shoots down more robots and fighters down. However what catches his attention are a couple of black holes that appear out of nowhere. One spawns invader ships which are tougher and begin to surround him, while the other hole begins to pull him towards its location. He fights against the pull while shooting d
own the enemy ships. The enemy begins to shoot at him and several shots hit his ship. He summersaults and flies his ship towards the right, away from the second black hole. Eventually the second hole dissipates and he is able to regain control of his ship. He shoots down the remaining invader ships and continues his way through the glooba base.
He sees several enemy battleships and fighters in front of him. He shoots the sentry guns on the battleships and finds their weak spot within the fuselage of the ships causing them to sink. The next set of battleships, however do not contain sentry guns on top instead they contain three BattleGloobas and rockets launchers. He moves from side to side dodging rockets, some of which were heat seeking. He would try to concentrate his fire on the battleships, but triangle fighters would get in the way making it harder for him. The mortar shots of the BattleGloobas were able to reach longer distances because of the lack of gravity. One of them clips him and it damages his wing.
“Crap there goes one of my wings! Oh man I hope I can make it to Fortuna.” Angel says with concern.
“If you make it to Fortuna there are plenty of repair areas to repair your ship. Besides your right wing still has over 60% power. So I think you should be ok.” Quentin says as he analyses Angel’s ship.
“These guys don’t quit! Looks like its time to use a smart bomb!” Angel says with confidence.
“Now you’re using your head!” Quentin says to Angel sarcastically.
Every glooba battleship goes down including the BattleGloobas with the smart bomb. He sees the entrance to another building, but instead of heading inside he decides he wants to attack from the outside. Angel raises his ship above the entrance taking out any turrets attacking him and any glooba solider that might be guarding the area. After careful inspection, he discovers that the building is a glooba ship construction facility.
“Hmm I can knock out two birds with one stone. I can get to Fortuna and knock out a main enemy base to slow down alien invasions on Earth.” Angel says.