Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

by Shaun F. Messick

CHAPTER 17: REVELATIONS

  Slave Camp of Zikf on Terrest ?

  Skip awakened in a cold sweat, breathing rapidly. He quickly stood up and made his way across his small eight-foot by eight-foot room to the sink. He turned on the water and splashed the coolness of it onto his face. After he finished, he looked up and could barely make out his face in the darkness of the room.

  The last three nights had been sleepless ones. He was no longer having the dream of the young boy and the bright temple. Now, he was having the same nightmare over and over again. The dream always began with Skip enjoying a summer barbecue with his family back in Springfield, Illinois. Just as his father finished saying grace, the blue sky above filled with red and orange, and chaos ensued. All around Skip, thousands upon thousands of Gnol soldiers surrounded his family, killing some and enslaving the rest.

  In each dream, Skip always tried to rescue his mother, but just as he reached her, a Gnol would place his gun to Skip's head and pull the trigger. At that moment, Skip would wake up in a cold sweat and out of breath.

  He gritted his teeth and slammed his fists onto the sink, causing the mirror to shake. He was frustrated. For the last couple of months, he had the same peaceful dream over and over again. But now, he was having a continuing nightmare. What did it all mean? Was God trying to communicate with him, or were these dreams just a creation of his subconscious mind? Whatever the answers were, Skip couldn't sit around and wait in this slave camp any more. He had to begin putting his plan into motion and somehow get into contact with Skyler Green.

  Skip took a deep breath, turned around, and began making his way back to his bed. On his second step with his cybernetic leg, he collapsed in pain. He let out a small scream and grabbed the back of his artificial limb behind the knee. The pain was almost unbearable, and he couldn't understand why.

  Ever since he had arrived at Zikf, he had been having trouble with his new leg, but now the pain was more intense. Skip sat up in his bed and pulled his pants off. He extended his artificial leg across the bed and examined it behind the knee. He looked closer and noticed an unusual dim red light blinking from underneath his artificial skin. With no sharp object in the room to cut away the skin, Skip pinched the area with his thumb and index finger and pulled.

  He ripped the rubber skin away from behind the knee, exposing the metallic skeleton underneath. The red flash was undoubtedly brighter now without the artificial skin as a covering, and he now knew why he couldn't find anything wrong with his leg when he previously examined it because each time he did, it was in light.

  He grimaced in pain again and touched the light with his finger. Just as soon as he did, the light switched off, and his pain immediately disappeared. Suddenly, three small objects protruded from his knee and emitted light. Skip's eyes followed the light and his jaw dropped with what he saw. Standing about two feet above him, was a small holographic image of Doc.

  Skip sat up and whispered, "Doc?"

  The hologram didn't respond, and Skip felt a little foolish for talking to what was obviously a computer program. After a few seconds, the holographic image of Doc spoke. "Skip, if you are viewing this message Sean and I programmed into your cybernetic leg, then you are in trouble."

  Skip was stunned and wondered why Doc and Sean would pre-program a message into his cybernetic leg and not tell him.

  "Perhaps you are wondering why we would pre-program a message into your cybernetic leg and not let you know?"

  Skip smiled and said, "Yes."

  "Well, the answer is simple," said the image. "Remember when you first learned about your new leg? You had the sensation of touch, but we programmed it so that you wouldn't feel any pain."

  Skip nodded his head as Doc continued.

  "Sean and I knew that the odds of you being captured by the Gnols were great. As a result, we hardwired your leg to your nervous system. We programmed your leg, however, so that you only feel pain behind the knee when you are in trouble."

  Skip was impressed with what Doc and Sean were able to do, but he was still confused.

  "Perhaps you are wondering why we didn't let you know about this fail safe in your leg," said the image of Doc.

  Skip smiled at the coincidence that the holographic image of Doc seemed to know what he was thinking.

  "We didn't tell you everything about your leg because the fail safe program installed in your leg is hardwired into your subconscious. In other words, if we had have told you, the program wouldn't have worked. We needed to keep you in the dark about the total potential of your leg. Also, if you had known, any scans performed by the Gnols on your leg would have revealed everything about it, including the technology of the Mind Inhibitors used to block the Gnols' brain scans."

  Skip was astonished. "Brilliant," he whispered. No wonder the Gnols couldn't get any readings on my leg, he thought.

  The image of Doc continued. "Now that you know a little more about the computer you use as a leg, I want you to press the button that was emitting the red light earlier four times with exactly one second between each press."

  Skip looked behind his leg and placed his finger on the button. He pressed it four times, timing each second between each press of the button. As soon as he pressed the button the fourth time, the artificial skin around his thigh enveloped and disappeared, leaving the metallic thigh exposed and revealing a numeric punch pad.

  Skip slowly guided his finger to touch the pad.

  "Don't touch the pad!" demanded Doc.

  Skip looked up and pulled his hand away quickly.

  "If you type in any numbers besides what I tell you to type, the code will never work, and your leg will self destruct."

  A lump formed in Skip's throat, and he sat up a little straighter.

  Doc cleared his throat and spoke, "Here's the code. One ? seven ? zero ? five ? one ? zero ? six ? four ? two."

  As Doc rambled off the numbers, Skip carefully punched in the code, careful not to make a mistake so that the miracle of his new leg wouldn't self destruct. Just as he finished punching in the final number, the top portion of his artificial thigh containing the numeric pad slid away. His jaw dropped with what he saw.

  Inside his leg was a compartment, and inside the compartment were the tools that he desperately needed to escape the slave camp of Zikf. Skip reached inside the hollow part of his thigh and pulled out a small gun. He examined it for a few minutes and then set it down next to him. He then pulled out a bag with what he estimated contained about one hundred Mind Inhibitors.

  Skip slowly sat the bag of inhibitors next to the gun and was about to reach into his leg for the third and final key to freedom when the door to his quarters suddenly slid open. Startled, Skip jumped, and his hand hit the gun and the bag of inhibitors, causing them to fall between the bed and the wall.

  He turned around quickly and met the angry, red eyes of Captain Belzar.