Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (10 page)

Mark was sitting on the ground
of a prison cell. He had been awake for a while. He was expecting some Glycan
to question him, but nobody showed up.

In
another prison cell next to the one holding Mark, Kalan, Doisgy, Caytion and
Zserie were looking at the two restrained Hylocan through a big window. Right
now, those Hylocans were unconscious. Kalan had their eyes covered and their
bodies fixed on surgical tables. There wasn’t even a fight. When those Hylocans
reached a corridor inside the facility, Kalan ordered the attack and his men
released nerve gas. The two Hylocans didn’t even have the chance to fire a
bullet.

“Are you
sure covering their eyes is enough?” Kalan said as he glanced over at Zserie.

“Yes,
they are just so-so Hylocans. They have to see the target within 10 meters to
read its mind.” Zserie said confidently.

“What if
they have some self-destruction mechanism?” Doisgy asked.

“I don’t
think so.” Zserie said.

“Did we
find anything in the craft they arrived in?” Kalan asked.

“It was
a short range space vessel. In order to get here, they must use something
bigger. There might be a vessel waiting for them in the space.” Doisgy said.

“Anything
in the outer space around this planet?” Kalan asked.

“My
fleet is patrolling a radius of three light years. Nothing.”

“Increase
it to 20 light years.” Kalan said.

“Right
away.” Doisgy said and relayed the order to his fleet.

“I think
we know how they found this planet. Securities just told me that they found a
tracer on one of the eyeballs arrived today. It turned out the tracer was the
same as the ones we found in that Human’s backpack.” Caytion said.

“This
doesn’t make any sense. That Human was working for Hylocan? No way.” Zserie
said.

“You
think they are here for the girl?” Doisgy asked Kalan.

“I don’t
know. But we can find it out. Wake them up. We got a lot of questions to ask.”
Kalan said coldly.

“Right
away.” Zserie said and called the scientists on the other side of the glass
window.

Two
scientists maneuvered a flying drone above those Hylocans and the drone shot
beams of blue light on the heads of those Hylocans. After several seconds, the
two Hylocans started to move. They soon realised that they were restrained. The
scientists nodded at Zserie.

“You can
start now.” Zserie whispered to Kalan.

“Where
you two come from?” Kalan asked.

“Hahahahahahaha.”
The two Hylocan laughed like crazy, their heads twitching and their bodies
convulsing. 

“Bang!
Bang!” Their bodies exploded, throwing blood everywhere.

Zserie
and Caytion were shocked. Doisgy threw up and fell on the ground.

“Just as
I expected.” Kalan said with a big grin.

“What do
you mean?” Zserie asked.

“Hylocan
knows we don’t take prisoners. They must have some mechanism preparing for
situation like this.” Kalan said casually.

“If you
let us know early, we don’t need to wake them up and have this big mess.”
Zserie said unhappily.

“The big
eyeball is not ready. We can’t read their minds. If we don’t wake them up, do
you have other suggestion?” Kalan asked.

“We
could die.” Zserie said.

“Where
is the human? Is he still alive?” Kalan asked impatiently.

“In the
prison cell. He is alive.” Caytion said.

Doisgy
finally got up from the ground. Several robots came in to clean his mess.

They had
Mark taken to another cell which had huge glass window on all sides. Kalan,
Doisgy, Zserie and Caytion were standing right in front of the glass window,
but Mark couldn’t see what was going on outside.

“You
should understand your situation. If you want to live, you better cooperate.”
Caytion said coldly.

“I will
tell you everything I know.” Mark said calmly.

“What
are you doing here?”

“Hylocans
captured me and they forced me to come here.”

“You
don’t work for Hylocans?”

“No, I
was on my way to M13, the black market. They attacked my spacecraft and
captured me.”

“Why
they attacked your craft?”

“I have
no clue. Bad luck, I guess.” Mark said innocently. 

“How
many Hylocans are there?”

“I saw
three.”

“We have
found several tracers in your backpack along with some other tools. Who do you
work for?” Caytion asked.

“Nobody.
I found those things and planned to trade them on M13.”

“Then
how do you explain you are wearing a face transformer on this planet?”

“Like I
said. I was forced to come here. They put it on me.” Mark said innocently.

Caytion
looked at Kalan for suggestions.

“All
right, take him away.” Kalan sighed.

Four
Glycan soldiers took Mark back to his cell.

“This
human is no use at all.” Kalan said angrily.

“Should
we kill him now?” Doisgy asked.

“No, not
yet. I need to report this whole thing to General Klizan. Especially the
Hylocan part” Kalan said reluctantly.

“Our
intelligence show he is a mine worker on planet Latianium. He has two sons.”
Zserie said.

“This
doesn’t make any sense.” Kalan murmured.

“Maybe
just coincidence?” Doisgy said.

“There
is no such thing as coincidence.” Zserie said.

“I will
go to Sylareon. Keep me posted.” Kalan said and left the room.

As he
was leaving the planet, he was wondering how to explain this to his father,
General Klizan.

Jason was checking a rifle in
the weapon bay. There were twenty of them laying in front of him. He put down
the rifle, picked up two short daggers and attached them onto his belt.

“We
probably won’t need that many.” Titainein said as she walked into the bay.

“I just
need to do something or I will go crazy.” Jason sighed.

“I know,
every second is crawling on your skin.”

“Yea,
you are in love with someone?” Jason asked.

“Something
like that. Jason, is it too late to stop?”

“You
know the answer to that question.”

“That’s
what I think.” Titainein smiled reluctantly.

“Who is
you lover?” Jason asked.

“I will
keep it as a secret for now. I will let you know if it works out.” Titainein said,
her face flushing red.

“OK. I
will keep asking you until you tell me.” Jason joked.

“Jason,
we will be there in five minutes.” Lucis called in on Jason’s watch.

“I will
be in the bridge.” Jason said as he picked up two rifles on the table. He threw
one to Titainein and they ran to the bridge.

Cruiser
General Klizan just emerged from dark matter passageway. Those passageway ran
like rivers in the universe, carrying dark matters from high density to low
density. Glycans was the only species able to use those passageways for
transportation purpose.

Planet
Etitaeg was right ahead. Jason could see some black stuff was slowly swallowing
the planet. As the cruiser got closer, he realized that those black thing was
clouds. The rain season has begun.

“There is
no other vessels near the planet. Where are the patrols and securities?” Idi
said as she watched the radar.

“It
means the selection is over.” Sayilin said in a heavy voice.

“Are we
too late?” Lucis said as he turned to Jason.

“There
are lots of movements in area under clouds, but none in other areas.” Orizy
said.

“Scan
the whole planet for family G communicator.” Jason said hastily.

“No
problem. It will take thirty seconds.” Orizy said as he started the scan.

While
Jason was staring at the screen without a blink, he took out the badge and
called Gloria. He got nothing.

“We got
one. We got one.” Orizy shouted excitedly. The spot was right on the edge of
clouds.

“Any
activity?” Jason asked nervously.

“No
movement.” Orizy said.

Everyone
was looking at Jason. He casted his eyes down for a second and said, “Land the
cruiser on that spot.” Then he headed to the loading zone.

On the
planet, Gloria was lying at the bottom of the hole, surrounded by other
Glycans’ corpses. The back pain was gone, because she couldn’t feel anything
below her chest. She looked at the sky covered by black clouds. She could smell
the incoming rain. She was happy that Jason wasn’t here. Thunder was getting
louder and the ground started to tremble.

Suddenly,
she heard some engine humming. She listened more carefully, but only heard
thunder. Several seconds later, she heard something else, very faint in the
distance. Then it was getting louder and louder.

“Gloria!
Gloria!”

Gloria
couldn’t believe her ears. She shook her head to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
She was so excited that she didn’t know how to respond.

“Gloria!
Gloria!” Jason shouted.

“Jason!
Jason! Jason!” Gloria screamed in joy.

The
moment Jason heard his name, he jumped into the air. He quickly reached the
hole, followed by Titainein and Erikon.

“Gloria!”
Jason yelled as he jumped into the hole without hesitation. As soon as he
regain the balance, he ran to her. Gloria broke into tears.

“Let’s
get out of here.” Jason said hastily as he crouched down next to Gloria and
lifted her from the ground.

“You are
here! You are really here!” Gloria said emotionally as she fondled Jason’s
face.

“That’s
what happens if you don’t answer my call.” Jason smiled as he carried Gloria in
his arms.

“I
thought about you but I...” Gloria lost her words.

“I am
here. I am with you.” Jason said firmly.

“Guys, I
don’t want to be a dick, but we really don’t have time for this, if you see
what I am seeing.” Lucis called in.

“Jason,
Lucis is right. We really don’t have time.” Titainein said in panic as she
looked at the distance.

In the
places covered by rain, thousands of tentacles busted out of ground, extending
into the air and grabbing everything in their ways.

Carrying
Gloria in his arms, Jason quickly ran to the side of the hole and then carried
her on his back. He could feel the ground beneath him was shaking. Jason took
out his daggers, one on each hand. He stabbed both daggers in the wall and then
pulled himself up. Jason used the daggers as climbing axes and quickly climbed
up. Right at this moment, the rain poured down. Hundreds of tentacles were
coming out, breaking the ground into pieces.

Erikon
and Titainein were shooting at those close to Jason, but there were too many.

“Jason!
Jason! You gotta hurry. They are crawling onto the hull.” Sayilin called in.

“Gloria,
hang on! We are almost there!” Jason shouted, his arms hurting like hell, but
he didn’t stopped for a second.

“Jason,
they are getting close.” Gloria said nervously.

“We will
be fine. Don’t let it go!” Jason said confidently.

When
Jason got close to the edge of the hole, Erikon and Titainein reached below,
grabbed Gloria and pulled her out.

“Go!
Go!” Jason shouted and climbed out of the hole.

They
carried Gloria and rushed to the cruiser, followed closely by Jason. 

Thousands
of tentacles were clenching the cruiser tightly, pulling the cruiser slowly
into the ground. Jason blasted his rifle at those tentacles.

“Jason,
there are too many. They are pulling us down!” Sayilin called in.

“Guys,
listen to me. Wait my word, then full power, take off. Understand?” Jason said
calmly as he watched Erikon and Titainein take Gloria into the cruiser.

“You
need to get in!” Orizy yelled.

“We are
not leaving without you!” Sayilin shouted.

“Jason,
get in! Get in!” Idi screamed.

“Sayilin,
do not take off! Do not take off!” Erikon shouted.

“I will
get him.” Lucis said as he jumped out of his seat, followed by Orizy and Idi.

“We die
together, is that what you want?” Jason shouted angrily.

Nobody
said a thing. They could feel that the cruiser was sinking into the ground.

“Wait my
word.” Jason said as he swiftly removed the magazine of the rifle. Then he
threw it at the cruiser.

“Now!”
Jason yelled as he shot at the falling magazine with the last round.

The
magazine exploded, radiating harsh lights like a supernova. All tentacles
retreated back into the ground in a blink. The cruiser blasted off to the sky.
Jason looked at it with a big smile. The light only lasted for about one second
and tentacles were coming out of the ground again.

In the
bridge, Sayilin was turning the cruiser back and said, “We will pick him up.
Find something to pull him in. We need…”

A
lightning bolt struck the cruiser, electrifying everyone on board. Then another
one hit it again.

“Sayilin,
pull up! Pull up!” Orizy shouted as he crawled to Sayilin.

The
vessel was now speeding with her bow pointing at the ground. 

Sayilin
grabbed the control sticks and pulled it back.

Orizy
reached the control panel and reversed the throttle. The cruiser made a sharp
turn at just 100 meters above the ground, gliding right between two mountains
and heading to another one. Orizy and Sayilin continued to pull it up.

“Come
on!” Orizy yelled.

The
cruiser went up at the last minute and barely avoided the head on collision.
But when it slid over the mountain, the belly hit the peak. Sayilin and Orizy
brought the cruiser to the outer space, on the orbit of Etitaeg. While they
were catching their breath, Erikon called in, “This is engine! The black liquid
is leaking. We are losing power! We are losing power!”

Sayilin
and others in the bridge looked out of the window. Black liquid was seeping out
from the bottom of the vessel, solidifying into thousands of particles.

“Stop
the engine! Stop the engine!” Sayilin said quickly.

“I did.
I did!” Erikon replied.

“Can we
turned back to get Jason?” Lucis asked.

“No.”
Erikon said.

“What we
do then? Go outside to stop the leak?” Lucis asked.

“That
will take hours. Jason can’t hold that long!” Erikon said angrily.

“Jason?
Jason? Did you hear me? Did you hear me?” Idi called Jason using her watch.

“Idi, it
is out of range.” Orizy said.

“Gloria
might know what to do.” Titainein called in. She was now taking care of Gloria
in the medical bay.

“Put her
on the line.” Lucis said.

Titainein
put her watch next to Gloria.

“Gloria.
The black liquid from dark engine is leaking. We need to stop it. What do we
do?” Lucis asked hastily.

“Find
the circuit line connecting to the leak spots and cut it off. Turn off other
things. We need to save power.” Gloria said weakly.

“How
long will it take?” Sayilin asked impatiently.

“I don’t
know. All of you find the leak. Now!” Gloria yelled. She took off her family
badge and called Jason, but only found out her badge no longer worked.

Everyone
was heading to the engine. As Idi turned off radar, she and others had no idea
that one Glycan vessel was approaching planet Etitaeg right now.