“How could you fall in love with one of…. them?” He asked in a disgusted voice.
“I don’t know, dad. It just happened. Yahn is very kind and would never hurt anyone unless he had to. He is as kind and loving as any human man I have ever known,” I explained, but I could tell the explanation was falling on deaf ears.
“You’ve thrown everything away. You were just supposed to be in the army long enough to earn money for college. Now, I have people at work saying my daughter is a traitor to her country and her planet. Now, I have to try and keep them from executing my only daughter. Did you not think about how all of these choices of yours might affect us?
“Honey, she has been through enough without all of this. What she needs right now is our support, not our criticism. What’s done is done. I can’t say what I would have done in her position, but we have to assume that she did what she felt was best at the time. You can’t fault her for that!” my mother fired back at him.
“You baby her too much, as usual. She has made some bad choices and it is going to cost her, her life!”
“If this is the last time I’m going to speak to either of you, I don’t want to spend it arguing. I just want both of you to know that I love you and that I’m sorry,” I pleaded as the tears began to flow again. My father’s expression began to soften somewhat as his eyes began to fill with water.
“Jessie, I tried everything I could to save you, but I have gotten nowhere. I made an appeal to the head judge and begged the governor to grant you a trial. My request was denied. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you,” he told me as a single tear streaked down his face.
“Thank you for trying father,” I said. A guard came walking up a second later.
“Alright, that’s all the time that you are granted. Now say your goodbyes and you must leave!” The guard barked.
“Goodbye, mom and dad. I love you!” I told them in a pitiful voice.
“Goodbye Jessie, we will always love you!” my mother said as the tears streamed down from her eyes.
“Let’s go,” the guard said in a detached voice.
Chapter 3
Yahn
In my vaporous state, I searched all over until I found the cell where they were keeping David. I knew that the next thing I had to do was to get the keys, which consisted of a small electromagnetic device that would deactivate the invisible force field that sealed each cell. I saw several police officers running around searching for me and waited until they had finished searching the cell block I was in. Once they left, I went over to the guard station and turned back into my normal form, just behind the guard. I put my right hand over his mouth and with my left hand I put my laser gun up to his temple.
“Do not move or try anything. I need to know where the keys to this cell block are located. If you try to warn someone about my presence, it will be the last thing you ever try, understand?”
“Yes,” he said quietly as sweat began to stream down his face.
“The keys are over in the control room just down the hallway.”
Keeping the gun pointed at him, I took him along with me to the control room, keeping a sharp eye out for any other guards or policemen. Luckily, they were still searching other cell blocks and were nowhere in sight.
As I stepped into the control room, two guards turned suddenly towards me with their guns at the ready.
“Put the guns down or your friend gets it!” I said. They looked at me and the guard that I held at gunpoint, and then threw their guns down on the ground.
“Now, get in the closet over there, all three of you!” I shouted. They looked at one another and did what I asked. As soon as they got inside the closet, I closed and locked the door. The electromagnetic keys were located inside a transparent box on the wall. I opened it and got out the keys. Now I had access to every cell on the block. Without further hesitation, I ran back up the platform to the cell where I had seen David. He was now awake and ready to escape as soon as I deactivated the force field.
“That was quick,” he said as I began to try different keys on the small opening to the right of the door.
“I’m sure that it will only be a matter of time before the place swarms with police again, so we must be quick,” I said as I continued to try different keys. A second later, I heard a commotion coming from the guard room. I knew that the men I had locked in the closet must have freed themselves or made enough noise to attract attention to themselves. I looked down at the platform below and saw the guards running up the stairs.
“Hurry, they’re coming!” David shouted.
“I’m trying!” I said as I continued to try the different keys. Finally, the tenth one worked. The key fit in the slot and the force field was deactivated. It made a sound like a long, descending note and the bars disappeared from view.
“Come on, quickly, this way!” I told David as I watched the guards reach the platform just below the one we were on. We ran towards the stairs just as they began to fire laser beams at us. I ducked at the last second so that the beam would miss me.
“We can’t go this way, they are coming up the stairs!” David insisted.
“Hmm,” I looked at the keys in my hand and devised a plan in that instant. “I think I know what I can do to help our situation. Come on, let’s head in the opposite direction. The guards will be up on our level soon!” The guards continued to shoot up at us as we began to run in the opposite direction. I fired back at them, managing to hit one of the guards.
“Here!” I handed the laser gun over to David and took out my keys. I closed my eyes and tried to use my mental powers to give me a clue as to which key to use. A muscular human with no hair stood looking at me.
“Why are you handing this to me?” David asked as the guards reached the level we were on.
“I’m going to free as many prisoners on this block to cause confusion. Just cover me while I do so!” I shouted. David returned fire, but the guards continued to approach. My concentration paid off. One of the keys began to glow and I used it to free the large human inside.
“Thanks, man!” the human said as he began to take off in the same direction we were going in. I moved on to the next cell, opening it and freeing two more puzzled humans who both had scars on their faces. They too began to run. We moved onto the next cell and the one after that. By now, the guards were only a hundred yards away from us. David fired at them and managed to kill one of them. The guard fell over the side of the platform. Now only one guard remained on the platform. However, the noise had attracted more guards and more policemen who were beginning to file in the cell block far below. Finally, after several minutes, I had managed to free twenty or more prisoners. The guards were busy scurrying around trying to capture the men we had set free. We made our way to the exit of the cell block, shooting any guards that got in our way. As we emerged onto the street, several hover cars began to move in and surround the building. A large hover copter swooped in and began to descend.
We managed to run around the corner and disappear into a crowded street nearby. I looked behind us and saw several policemen scurrying around trying to round up all of the prisoners that I had set free.
“That was a good plan, but what do we do now?” David asked.
“We’ve got to find where they’ve taken Jessie. They are supposed to execute her today. I hope we’re not too late.” As soon as I said this I looked back and saw one officer whispering to another and pointing in our direction. “Quickly, we’ve been spotted. This way!” I took off through the crowd as quickly as I could and turned into an alley. David and I pressed ourselves against the wall and watched as the officers continued down the main road. They had been unable to follow our path through the crowded street.
“Don’t hesitate to use that laser gun if necessary. I am going to see if I can connect with Jessie and see where she is.” David nodded and held his gun by his side. I closed my eyes and tried to connect with Jessie, mentally.
Jessie, can you perceive my thoughts? W
e have gotten out of the prison and we are on our way to help you. Where are you? Please tell me that we aren’t too late. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for her response.
Yahn, I’m so glad you managed to free yourselves. I am ok but they are taking me towards the public square as we speak. We are only about a block away now. I can see it up ahead and there is already a huge crowd assembled there. You have to hurry before they go ahead with this. There are people everywhere shouting, ‘traitor’ at me. Some of them are throwing rocks. Please get here as quickly as you can. The public square is five blocks directly west from the prison. Be careful, there seem to be police everywhere.
I will my love. We will try and get there as quickly as we can
“Well, were you able to connect with her?” David asked me.
“Yes, we have to hurry. She is four blocks away from the square where they mean to execute her.”
“How are we ever going to reach the square in time? That’s a long way to go and this huge crowd is sure to slow us down,” David insisted.
I looked around the area and my eyes landed on a mechanic’s shop that was just down the street.
“There’s our solution. Time to get us a hovercraft so we can get there faster!” I answered. We ran towards the shop. I opened the door of the shop and two very large men turned and looked at us. One of them was underneath a small, white hovercraft that looked to be a sleek new model. It was only large enough for two people and had two very powerful thrusters. I knew that this vehicle would have the speed that we required.
“What the hell do you two want? Get that Karkastian out of here!” the largest of the two mechanics shouted at us.
“You are in no position to make demands!” I answered him as David pointed the laser gun at them. They threw their hands up.
“Alright, boys, no need to get excited. What is it we can help you with today?” the smaller man asked.
“Is that hovercraft in good shape?” I asked.
“Yep, I just finished all the repairs to the hyper drive myself. That’s a XL236, one of the fastest hover cars on the market, but please don’t take that one. It belongs to the boss,” he begged.
“Sorry, we will do our best to return it to you, but we don’t have the time to haggle over it. We will also be needing your mechanic’s uniforms so kindly take them off please,” I requested.
They looked at one another reluctantly as David waved the gun in their faces.
“You heard the man, take the uniforms off and hand over the keys right now!” David said forcefully. The two men began to strip off their uniforms until they stood before us in their underwear.
“Please don’t scratch or harm the vehicle. The boss will kill us!” The smaller one pleaded.
“I will do my best, but no promises!” I said. Then, we proceeded to put on the mechanic’s uniforms to disguise ourselves. I put the hooded portion of the uniform over my head to hide my blue face which would make us stand out too much in the crowd. Next, we lowered the scaffold that held up the hover car and got inside. I put the key in the ignition and it started up immediately.
We zoomed out of the mechanic’s shop and out into the busy street. There were hover cars of every description all around us making it hard for us to go as fast as we possibly could. I zoomed up above the crowd of hover cars until we were higher than the rest of them. I pushed the pedal to the floor and we began to move so fast that the g-forces pushed us both back in our chairs. Unfortunately, we caught the attention of a police hover car below us. It zoomed up to our level and began to chase us.
“Damn it, we’ve got company,” David yelled.
I threw the car into a higher gear and we left the police man far behind us. Now we only had one more block to go. I could see the crowded town square just a short distance away. Before I could safely land us there, I would need to shake the police car. I directed the hover car back down into the traffic below us and the police car passed, still above us in the lane that we had been in. I brought the hover car to a halt just a hundred yards from the town square. I saw a huge platform that had been set up in the dead center of the square. A large rope with a noose hung from a pole on the platform.
“Hurry, there’s no time to lose!” I shouted as we got out of the hover car.
Chapter 4
Jessie
The cuffs around my hands were starting to hurt my wrists. The policemen treated me roughly, pushing me along the walkway as soon as they got me out of the hover van. I looked up and scanned the crowd for any sign of rescue, but saw only unkind faces. There had to be a thousand people assembled around the town square where a huge platform had been erected just for this occasion. I looked high up above me at the noose that was hanging down from a tall pole. The more well off people in the crowd were dressed in their garish suits, but even the commoners that cleaned the streets were gathered there. It seemed that the only thing that brought together the different classes was a public execution. As I looked out over the angry faces and fists that people were raising in the air, I thought of how little progress we had made as a society compared to some of the planets I had visited. Sure, we had hover cars, jet packs and high-speed hover trains that could go from New York to Los Angeles in two hours, but we were still a brutal and divided society. The people dressed in suits were all huddled together towards the front while the commoners were all on the fringes, just like they were in every other aspect of society. I shook my head and wondered if these people would really want to see my head in a noose if they knew my story. All that they had been told was that I was a traitor that deserved death and that was enough to ignite their bloodlust.
I looked to my left and several security guards and policemen armed with laser guns began to escort the main judge out to a remote microphone attached to his expensive-looking, outlandish suit. In the years, since my childhood and on, the members of the upper classes had gone out of their way to make themselves stand out even more from the increasing number of poor people with brightly colored, specially-made suits made from rare materials. The sight of them disgusted me because I knew that their opulence had resulted in the increasing desperation of the majority of people. When the judge appeared, everyone began to cheer for him. I was later told that this judge had his own virtual reality program that was one of the most popular shows at that time.
The judge put his arm into the air to get everyone’s attention. The crowd stopped its deafening roar to hear what this virtual reality star had to say.
“As you all know, I am Judge Randall and I have been asked to come here today to pass judgment on a revolting traitor that has turned her back on her country and her comrades!” As soon as he said this, the yelling and booing returned. I looked away from the scowling and jeering people, hoping to catch sight of my rescuers, but I didn’t spot them.
“She was tasked with finding and bringing Karkastians to justice and instead, she chose to injure her own comrade and go AWOL, helping an enemy combatant and then stealing a space pod to make her escape!”
“BOO! Down with the traitor! Hang her!” they yelled.
I loved how the judge left out certain parts of the story like how James nearly killed Yahn when his orders were to capture him. The judge knew what the crowd wanted to hear and he was going to continue to play upon their bloodlust.
“Let her execution stand as a symbol of our continued unity and desire to root out all known evil in the universe, even when it resides amongst us.” When he said this he cast a judgmental gaze in my direction. I looked at him indifferently to show that his words did not affect me. Deep down I was scared out of my wits- scared of dying when I was so young and had so much left to live for.
“Alright, boys, the time has come. I Judge Randall find the defendant guilty of treason! Her punishment is death by hanging!” The crowd went wild, and it chilled my blood to think of all of these people that desired my death without knowing the full story. I was also shocked by the primitive nature of executions. It seemed that pa
inful, old-fashioned methods of execution had come back into style to act as a deterrent against those that would rise up against the established order.
The guards pushed me forward and led me to the stairway that led up to the high platform where the gallows awaited me. My heart began to pound faster in my chest the higher up we climbed. When I reached the platform, I gazed out over Washington at the tall towers, hover dwellings and glass walkways. I looked at the crowded hover ways above what used to be roads and thought that it looked ugly compared to the forested mountains of Padure or even the swirling gasses of Neutomia. We had created a civilized monster compared with many other planets. One of the guards pushed me over the collapsible floor and placed the noose around my neck. I closed my eyes and sought out Yahn one last time.
Goodbye, my love. I will always remember the precious times that we spent together. If there is another plane of existence, I will wait for you there.
Alien Romance Box Set: Romantic Suspense: Alien Destiny: Scifi Alien Romance Adventure Romantic Suspence Trilogy (Complete Series Box Set Books 1-3) Page 12