 
Dax and Tam are traveling deep into space inside a companion heading for Photopia. But, before they can get there, they must fight their way through the Benty fleet and its patrols.

Meanwhile, on Photopia, others are racing to activate an Enac super weapon to save the planet from a massive Benty land and air invasion for a final photopian harvest.
Lawrence Sky

Photopia

Companion Book Series

Copyright 201420145

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this eBook.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

All images in this eBook were Free to use, Share or Modify, and Commercially Usable.

Smashwords Edition License Notes.

I would like to acknowledge the Director of the Chesterfield Writers Club as an enormous inspiration to me in organizing my eBook. Also, I would like to give acknowledgment to my great-niece, Jackie, who critiqued my eBook. And my cousin Ron, my most avid fan.

### CHAPTER 1

### Photopian Space Traveler

Leaving Earth, the Fia continually monitored all incoming transmissions to and from Earth. They had already transferred all their detainees to one of the citidomes. The aliens fleeing Earth were no match for the technical sophistication of the Fia and soon began to give themselves up without a fight. That's why it was a surprise to see a spaceship coming from deep space heading for Earth.

"We have detected another spacecraft, but it is coming from deep space and heading directly for Earth," said a young Fia technician. "It doesn't respond to any of our identity checks."

"Is anyone on board?" asked Dr. Linkgar, the senior scientist in charge.

"Yes, but we can't identify its lifeform frequency, its new," the technician told her. She paused to meditate on the situation.

"We think it's a Benty clone on a suicide mission," offered a technician.

"What proof do you have of that?" said Dr. Linkgar.

"We don't recognize the design of the spaceship, but it does have a modified antimatter power signature. It is Benty in concept. Can I have the authorization to destroy it before it gets too close to Earth?"

"How much time do we have?"

"Sixty-six minutes," replied another technician, beaming back with enthusiasm.

"You say you can't recognize its lifeform frequency?" questioned Dr. Linkgar to be sure of her decision.

"No, but I failed to mention its antimatter reactor engines are overheating. If allowed to crash on Earth, we are looking at a near global extinction of life on the planet. The force would be equivalent to a million-million hydrogen bombs going off at once. We need your approval to destroy it, doctor!"

A triangular-shaped spacecraft with four red-hot engines underneath its base appeared on the Dr. Linkgar's view screen. The projected course highlighted on her screen showed it heading directly for the planet at near-light speed. Its distance for braking had long since passed as it continued its journey towards Earth. The Benty sometimes used clones from other humanoid species to pilot and destroy hostile planets. Most of the technicians, however, thought it was unusual for the spacecraft to be coming from another direction. That sector of the galaxy was not officially part of the Benty territory. But in defense of not destroying it, they questioned why the Benty would use a hybrid design to do the work of a scout ship unless this was some new weapon. Others argued it was not present to destroy Earth because it had been a food source for the Benty in the past. It did not seem like a good Benty strategy knowing their history. However, not answering an identity check was a serious matter and gave them no alternatives except to stop it and remove the threat to Earth and its inhabitants. With only one lifeform registering on the screen, it made it easier as the technicians surrounding Dr. Linkgar gradually looked towards her for a final decision. She took a deep breath to show her anxiety.

"Begin the countdown...now!"

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

"Wait! Don't destroy it!" shouted a young female technician standing near a bank of dials and computer screens. "Wait! Wait! We know who it is! It's a Photopian! My companion remembers their frequency signature. They are another experiment by our ancestors. We must rescue it," pleaded the junior technician as she continued by saying. "We can use our companions to build an energy net wide enough to catch the ship like a gravity net. If the grid is successful in catching it, a companion can electronically disable the antimatter reactor system," offered the technician. Just then another male technician stepped into the enormous control room and approached the senior scientist.

"The Photopian still does not respond to our radio signals," he said.

"Any ideas about why this may be?" Dr. Linkgar inquired as she looked at both of her youthful technicians.

"They may be unconscious or dead because of the long journey from Photopia. We must be ready to help them once our companion gets inside. I suggest using an companion to bring the Photopian over to us instead of waiting to pull the spacecraft into our hangar bay," said the female technician.

"Sounds like a good plan," said Dr. Linkgar and left the room for another meeting, leaving the task to her junior technicians to handle.

"We will need about fifty companions to volunteer for the net," the young female technician instructed to her team members. Immediately, they began their task to rescue their photopian space traveler.

# CHAPTER 2

### Photopia

Getting the companions to volunteer was easy. Configuring the net in the short amount of time they had was a monumental task. With the last preparations made, the companions went out to take up their positions with only minutes to spare. The lead companion placed in charge of forming and controlling the net was Quill, a 1,500-year-old robot with plenty of space-rescue experience of all types. Aware of the technical challenges involved in the rescue, he immediately deployed his team of companions in a square grid to catch the oncoming spaceship from any angle if it tried to evade them at the last moment. Diverting it from Earth was his top priority since he had only one chance to get it right. If he determined the net was not going to succeed, he had the authority to destroy the spaceship. If the net were successful, it would then be his task to enter the craft and bring the occupant onboard the Fia. Quill's final uplink to the starship gave the Photopian's life sign readings alerting them that the single crew member was alive but unconscious or in deep hibernation.

Moments later, the tiny windowless spaceship impacted the energy net driving it forward with its momentum. The net stretched for hundreds of kilometers then slowly wrapped itself around the ship like aluminum foil, preventing it from making any further forward motion. Quill quickly moved to the ship to locate the entrance. Although the door was seamless, Quill's red dot was able to find its faint outlines with little effort.

Opening the door, Quill used his energy field like a balloon to block the gasses that might try to escape. Once inside, he closed the doorway and immediately noticed debris floating inside the cabin. It became evident that the ship's construction lacked attention to details as evidenced by its dull, lifeless colors which were not suitable for a long space voyage. The ship's controls, stacked like boxes, lined the rear of the compartment with no apparent organization. In the center of the cabin, a reclining chair was facing a digitized monitor, replacing the window to the outside. Slumped in the chair was the Photopian Ambassador, unconscious, but alive. His body, frail from dehydration, bobbed centimeters above the chair in zero gravity. His gray uniform rippled as he floated. Quill studied the situation, then used pen size lasers to cut away the straps that tried to hold the space traveler in his chair. Slowly, the tall Photopian floated away from his chair as Quill reached out with his energy field. Within moments, the Photopian was safely inside Quill's bubble. Together, they headed for the Fia with the small deactivated hybrid spaceship in tow behind them.

When the Photopian became conscious, his speech was very incoherent and disconnected. However, he did have clutched in his hand the letter from the governors which made a clearer picture of his purpose as he rambled about the space federation helping Photopians fight the Benty invasion. It was all they needed to hear to get the Fia to speed up her efforts to reach Photopia.

# CHAPTER 3

### Destined to Someday Return!

Long ago in the vastness of outer space, a civilization sprang up on a tiny green planet called Photopia. A salty green ocean covered nearly 70% of its surface, while its landmass was nothing more than a strip of land 1,000-kilometer-wide, traversing the planet near the equator supporting a tropical climate year around. The inhabitants of Photopia were just as unique as the planet itself. The photopians evolved hairless over the entire surface of their body (except for females with wide eyelashes). They had ultra-black complexions with soft baby-like skin. Their black skin helped them absorb the heat for their internal chemical reactions to occur. Hence, they all wore flared shorts and thin T-shirts. The females had no protruding breasts only nipples with all the mammary glands embedded in their chest cavity, making all photopians look the same to an outsider. Internally, they had a sophisticated central nervous system and well-developed heart and circulatory system complete with pink blood cells. However, the uniquely interesting thing about Photopians is that they produced energy from an internal organic battery that replaced the digestive system (a norm in most humanoid organisms throughout the galaxy). Their battery organ used charged ions such as sodium chloride (NaCl) to produce ions (Na+ \+ Cl-) or by breaking down simple substances into salt or salt compounds which dissolved in water. The salts released charged ions that help activate or deactivate a molecule similar to ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) by using cellular organelles to pump ions as energy compounds needed to do physiological, mechanical and chemical work. The waste products stored as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide were held in separate organ systems and excreted out as a toxic, but biodegradable liquid salt when released into the environment. As a result, Photopians could live off nothing more than salt tablets harvested from the colorful plants growing in their vast oceans or by just drinking a glass of pure ocean water. Consequently, this energy arrangement made their oceans precious for their survival as a species.

As photopians developed socially, they were able to build a civilization within fifty thousand years, with help from a race of beings known only to them through old tales as the "Code Makers." But, as their society flourished, so did violence with tribal wars ravaging the photopian countryside.

An elite band of tribal merchants from the ruling classes passed laws allowing them to rule by combined forces, with privileges extended only to a small chosen few. From these laws spawned a caste system that was used to create three genetically distinct tribes and as time passed, this caste permanently molded each generation. Total control was only in the hands of the wealthy blue-eyed first tribe members which consisted of only 9% of the total photopian population, some of which being the tribal governors (1%) of the planet. It was these powerful governors and the supreme governor that banded together to rule the tribes without opposition, resulting in virtually no violence and a permanent truce preventing any future wars among the tribes.

The yellow-eyed second tribe members known as laborers made up 30% of the total tribe population. They were the highly trained government workers or professionals and administrators who supervised activities throughout the cities. Their occupations decided by a battery of tests given to children at the tender age of 5 at a time in their lives when they could hardly begin to understand their fate. The first tribe controlled and manipulated the yellow-eyed population. They also formulated occupational standards for professional excellence forcing laborers to give the first tribe their best in return for a higher education and a higher status in the caste system. Then, out of necessity, the first tribe manipulated the brown-eyed third tribe into becoming the least educated. This group toiled sunrise to sunset every day, known as consumers which made up 50% of the photopian population.

There was also another subclass of Photopians genetically altered to have red-eyes known as enforcers which made up 10% of the population. They were members of the third tribe randomly selected at birth that became the brutal security force to watch over the laborer and consumer populations. They made sure that both tribes followed the laws set down by the supreme governor but at the same time allowed the blue-eyes to be immune to the laws.

After centuries of extensive psychological programming, the Photopians were so thoroughly indoctrinated that they were without question, innately loyal to the tribal caste system. The laborers and consumers believed they had no wish to govern, but only to work and serve to support the growth of their society at the wishes of their tribal governors. But unbeknownst to all but a few of the blue-eyed members, laborers and consumers were by design made impoverished. Drugs placed in their water supply further guaranteed complete obedience. The brown-eyed ones suffered the most because they had but only one goal in life, to toil at any tedious and physically challenging tasks. Over a short period, this left most of them, hopelessly weakened and debilitated. As a labor pool, they only consumed goods merely to extend their fruitless existence to make the blue-eyes more comfortable. In stark contrast, the blue eyes reveled in luxury almost too great to imagine. This form of governance worked so well that it flourished and became self-sustaining and uncontested for thousands of years. Consequently, they believed that "the rulers moved ideas, the laborers moved instructions, and the consumers moved things." But, somewhere in their dim past, Photopians had a society with equality; more advanced than this corrupted one. Somehow, their society lost the knowledge of their importance replacing it with insensitive greed. For the moment, their greatness appeared buried in time, perhaps on purpose or just accidentally, but destined to someday return!

### CHAPTER 4

### For All Eternity

Warm twin suns greeted Photopia in the late afternoon to repeat what the tribes had done earlier that morning. A wave of consumers came out of their dwellings by the hundreds to start their journey towards the workplace. They were ordinary factory workers, low-level hospital workers, food servers, and maintenance workers, supplying the city's laborers and first tribe members with their daily needs on a constant 10-hour work shift (there were four work shifts a day on Photopia).

Merel, a scientist, was tired after working his ten-hour shift riding the non-stop express to the laborer's dwellings. His tram was unbearable with too many tribe members jammed into a thirty-meter long tram.

Tramcar-Photo by en.wikipedia.org

Luckily, the trams were clean and shiny thanks to the consumers. A faint smile managed to register on Merel's brow for a moment. He noticed an attractive young female he knew only by sight, standing several meters away from him. Her face was just visible in the swaying crowd. He longed to speak to her, but dared not, for she was probably already involved with someone else and not interested in considering someone new. _If only_ , he mused. "Excuse me, sorry," said a dry voice behind him, as the tram suddenly stopped, forcing all the passengers to shove forward into one another. Merel's thoughts left him again, as he stood staring out the window; his dull yellow eyes stared back at him. His right-hand rested in a plastic stirrup hanging from the ceiling, swaying back and forth in rhythm with the moving tram. Outside, the twin suns slid further towards the dim horizon, while below him, he saw the massive reservoir that ringed and separated the inner city from the dwelling places. Quickly, mud-brown buildings all the same two basic shapes, but various sizes scroll past like a huge somber painting. The buildings were cold and impersonal squeezed together so tightly; it seemed offensive just to look at them. They were the designated dwelling places for the consumers and, as usual, had no meaning or purpose other than to give shelter. Each building, no matter the size had the same exterior design of either a square or rectangle with round or square holes poked out as windows with a thin piece of clear plastic as its windowpane. Occasionally, one could see inside an apartment, where only then, did it become all too apparent that they had far less than laborers. All consumers, no matter what their job title had the same bland interior accommodations. However, by comparison, laborer communities sprawled out into the countryside. Each small rectangular house was spaced to allow each laborer the luxury of expressing his/her unique taste of exterior colors on their dwelling.

When Merel's stop came, he got off after pushing and shoving his way out. All around him were signs of his community getting ready for nightfall (actually it was dusk; it never really got dark because of the two suns). He felt empty walking along the well-lighted streets lined with highly photosensitive trees that changed colors from green to yellow, then blue as the sunlight trailed from yellowish to pink as it neared dusk. He walked down quiet streets lined with houses leading to his dwelling. Rolling hills behind his house gave way to the back of another row of communities. A warm breeze pushed on his back filled with the sweet smell of flowers, as he finally came to his home and isolation.

***

Like all governments, Photopia also had an agenda. The tribal governors decided one day, after centuries of putting it off, that it was time to conquer outer space; at least for the first few thousand kilometers, above their planet. Now, thirty years later, they were able to launch successfully massive rockets called cargo lifters on a regular basis. With the help of these giant orbiters, carrying metric tons of modular frames, they constructed a massive ten-kilometer-long space barge within a five-year span of time.

Photopian Space Barge – Picture by L. Sky

The platform was manned by laborers and specially trained consumers, working together to harness solar energy from their suns. By placing the barge in geosynchronous orbit over a thirty-two-kilometer power grid the energy was beamed down to the planet's surface. Once the solar energy was collected and stored in gigantic batteries, it was converted into microwaves. From power stations inside the grid, the microwaves were amplified a million times to energize a microwave beam which in turn powered turbine engines to produce trillions of kilowatts of electricity. From this point, the endless amount of energy generated was parceled out to energy distributors around the planet's continuous land mass.

Their energy problems solved, a small band of tribal governors turned their attentions further outwards to the universe. They, like countless other beings throughout the galaxy, wondered if they were alone in the cosmos and if so, it would justify their right to be superior to the other tribes. In other words, the blue-eyed photopians saw themselves as the highest expression of a sentient lifeform in the universe. It also helped to rationalize their greed as well.

So, they secretly authorized searches that gazed farther and farther out into space. However, it was only known by a smaller inner circle of first tribal governors, that the search for aliens was highly organized and rigorously controlled. Secretly, the grand scope of the program was designed to prevent alien contact with the masses from ever occurring. To risk contact could destroy the social and economic fabric that the first tribe had been enjoying for thousands of years, causing the rulers to lose power. Outside contact would simply upset that balance and control over the other two tribes. If at all possible, they wanted to make the first contact to control the flow of information. As a precaution, a rumor was intentionally started suggesting that the incidence of meteor strikes on the planet would increase within the next 10 to 15 years. Then, as predicted, in response to this potential threat, there was an effort to avert the catastrophe. It allows more funding to construct an early detection system located further downstream on the space platform. However, one fascinating aspect was that the planners had chosen live crews to operate this outpost instead of automating its functions as was the case with the rest of the barge. Also, the laborers were highly secretive and in fact, received all of their orders from highly encrypted computer messages. Within itself, this was extremely irregular because laborers by nature rarely kept secrets from one another due to their conditioning. But even more significant, was the fact that all data collected by the crew was reported exclusively to an assistant tribal governor located on the platform (again, very unusual) that transmitted all findings back to Photopia even more encrypted. But one day, they made a startling discovery that would change all of their lives forever.

***

When Merel awoke the next day, his mind immediately tried to organize his workday; his body still tired from the day before. He made himself ready and left for work like most photopians. He never ate breakfast in the morning because photopian physiology didn't require them to need constant nourishment to function. Thus, the day started as always with a crowded tram car filled with sullen faces.

Inside the workplace, the capital city had a shiny white building that stood high among the others. On its north facing wall inside the lobby, a solid gold plaque read, **"** _SCIENCE CENTER._ **"** Behind this sign were a cadre of well-trained laborer scientists and medical researchers, whose jobs were to examine and study everything within the planet's environment, as well as the environment itself. So, simultaneously and without question, they studied diseases and developed nerve gasses for crowd control to satisfy the whims of the tribal governors.

It was on the 14th floor where it all began. Fredrica was a talented young scientist running biological tests. Her head bent laboriously over a microscope; she intensely studied her minute specimens. Tortured by the harsh realities of her life, she looked through her scope with a look of intelligence far beyond normal. Something blazed in her youthful yellow eyes. Like the rest of her colleagues, she too was tired and mildly depressed, but unique, almost perfect for the events that were to unfold. It was unknown for two years by her coworkers or administrators that she had become allergic to certain foods and, more importantly, the drinking water. Fredrica's body rejected the chemicals for two hours a day, causing her to have aches and pains, and then a rush of euphoria that she cherished like a sweet nectar. She never knew when it would happen, especially while on her ten-hour shift. At home, she would curl up and look out her window at the trees and flowers that bloomed year-round. If her condition discovered, they would isolate her in a hospital or worse, a prison for the insane. Aware of the consequences of her condition, she was always able to hide each welcomed event.

Raising her head from the microscope, the onset of symptoms washed over her again. It always started with a throbbing headache that felt like something ripping the top of her skull off. Next, her skin became hypersensitive and tingled with sensation. This phase of the reaction lasted only a few seconds while she just sat screaming inside, and then it came, muscle cramps that lasted three grueling minutes. Photopians didn't perspire; salts in perspiration was energy. If she had perspired, it would have given her away. So, she quietly waited in anguish until everything became clear and she was free; free to feel alive with energy and in touch with her feelings and emotions. Quickly, she pulled out of her smock pocket a vial filled with drinking water that she had smuggled into her lab several days ago and camouflaged it amongst other liquid chemicals on one of the upper shelves.

Chemicals – Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

Only the lounge areas had drinking water which came out of a certified water fountain was used. No cups or containers were ever permitted and if caught in the lab with the liquid, swift and harsh punishment was guaranteed. Fredrica had already figured out that the water used in the laboratories was untainted and not the source of their enslavement. Speedily and with extreme care, she began a series of tests to prove her _hypothesis_. Fredrica believed she and everyone else was in bondage by drugs on a massive scale. But the big question was always how, and since she seemed to be the only scientist in a position to exercise her extraordinary circumstances, it became her responsibility to find the answer. Determined, she began testing, curious as to what she might find lurking in the innocent looking solution that swirled about in her test tube. It took only minutes for her to witness the truth and decide not to drink tribal water whenever possible. Perhaps limited intake could prolong her allergic response time. With perhaps twenty minutes' left from about two hours of freedom, she began searching for some chemical that could neutralize the effects. She needed something that would make her immune to the chemical, but at the same time realizing the drug could be in everything, as well as their food or even their clothing because they used the same tribal water to wash everything. She had to find something like a vaccine that would free her for all eternity.

### CHAPTER 5

### I Feel Free

Free from the drug's depressing effects for three months, Fredrica stood devotedly over her microscope, viewing tens of slides filled with her treated cells bathed in drinking water. She had the will to limit her intake of tribal water at risk to her health. After a while, Fredrica reduced her tribal water intake to stop her addiction. In the end, it was the science building that made the difference. She willfully drank more water there than at home.

Whether at home or work, she secretly took notes on her experiments, using various combinations of chemicals that might neutralize the government's mind-controlling drug.

Finally, one morning in her lab, she found what she was looking for, unaffected cells after chemical treatment. The antidepressant formula was perfect for treating the tribal water's depressive affects. She reflected as another thought came to her mind. Who could she get to test her counteragent? Who could she trust to help her, the lone liberator? Informants working for the enforcer tribe were everywhere. Your sister or brother could be one, and you'd never suspect them until it was too late. It was a way of life on Photopia, to strike back at the system by telling on its tribe members; a misplaced aggression against the government; self-defeating and frustrating but guaranteed to keep the rulers in power.

Fredrica sat in her chair wearing a powder-blue smock coat as each second ticked away, absorbed in thought. There was one person her mind continually settled on with relative comfort, a male coworker. He was young like her and always hard at work. Few words passed between them, but the little time they did have together, convinced Fredrica that he was intelligent enough to be the one. He seemed easy to approach, his eyes always searching for answers. He was her best choice, more or less; the risk was necessary, realizing that betrayal could be painful or...deadly. She also reasoned that she could control him easier than her other coworkers who were always pessimistic and sometimes suspicious of anything or anyone. Put another way; her coworkers were just mean and nasty unless they were with family or a loved one (and sometimes that didn't matter either). Her mind began to wonder as she thought about the photopian mating concept which was an interesting proposition since a photopian had to be approachable for any relationship to develop. _It is where the mind control drug must have made itself invaluable,_ she pondered. It only affected certain areas of the brain's hypothalamus allowing affection and love to express itself or filter through to keep the population producing offspring thus continuing the tribes.

***

Syringe with drug – commons.wikimedia.org

A fine point of a needle glistened in the overhead light. Fredrica leaned over a counter for support and slid the needle into a protruding vein in her arm. She could feel it spitting wild flames of freedom into her blood. Almost instantly, she felt woozy in the head; off balance. She sat down in a nearby chair, never once taking her eyes off a smuggled beaker of water sitting on a nearby lab counter, waiting for her, calling her to take a sip. After a few minutes feeling some of her strength returning, she got up and walked around the lab. She waited patiently, sensing something should have happened. Then, without warning, she wanted to abandon the whole idea for no reason. She was afraid, then confused. The beaker filled with water loom larger and larger; cool and refreshing. She imagined the tribal water going down her throat for the first time in months. Fredrica found herself fighting against it. Then like a cold slap in the face, paranoia made her believe that maybe people thought she was behaving strangely. She felt that someone was watching her or perhaps noticing that she was not drinking tribal water. But she was alone in the lab. Awarded a special assignment for her strong performance in research, she picked, this time, to embark on her crusade. It was pure luck because it meant that she was free to conduct unsupervised research in any part of the building. So, she tried to reason with herself, rationalizing what she was feeling - withdrawal symptoms!

As the day progressed, she reluctantly went about her duties in the laboratory. She felt weaker and disconnected. Finally, her body exploded as she shook with anxiety. But, an instant later, she was free, feeling crazy with boldness. She found herself thinking of the tribes in despair. They needed a revolution. There only hope to change for the better. It all seemed clear now. Another hour went by with her thoughts still vivid in her mind's eye. But the true test waited for her on the lab counter. Slowly, she walked over to it and embraced it, as if it had a life of its own. Cautiously, she sipped, and then recklessly gulped it down like a consumer. She tried to feel her insides, innately judging the effects of the drug going into her system. She felt fine, convinced it was working, but would it have the same effect on someone else? She prepared another hypodermic needle, carefully putting it in her desk drawer for safekeeping, as she left for her unsuspecting partner who was to be her unwitting test subject.

***

Merel worked on the 10th floor of the Center. He was also a scientist and at the moment holding a test tube containing a mutated protein, when Fredrica entered his lab.

Test Tube – Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

"Hi," said Fredrica sullen and weak-like to disguise her feelings.

"I haven't seen you for a while," replied Merel in a monotone voice.

"I'm on special assignment," she replied. Merel looked at her strangely.

"Yeah, we know. How did you manage that?" Merel snapped while looking around the room at his other coworkers to see if they were watching them and then at her.

Fredrica eyed her colleague's side profile before speaking again. "Merel," she said calmly. "We've known each other for several years now, right?"

"Yes, I guess that's about right," he replied.

"I've meant to ask you something personal," she paused for a moment, and then continued, carefully choosing her next words. "Are you an informer for the enforcers?" she whispered.

"Fredrica, can't you see I'm busy. I don't feel like having a conversation with you right now. I've got enough problems dealing with this protein."

"I'm serious Merel," she whispered to him and continued. "It's true we don't have much to say to each other, but I must know...are you?"

"No Freddie are you?" he countered sarcastically. He always called her Freddie whenever he thought she was obnoxious.

"Of course, I'm not! Don't be silly."

"Well then, can I get back to work?" said Merel, as he gently set his test tube down in a test tube rack and then looked straight at her rather annoyed.

"Merel, come on. Can't we be friends?"

"Not now!" Then out of habit, he forcefully rammed his hands down inside his white smock coat pockets, his face etched with a tired look, as he began to speak. "I've met someone. Well...I mean I see someone on my tramcar. A female, she's nice I think. She's sad. Anyway, I am attracted to her. Help me. Give me some ideas about what I should do? We can be friends if you help me with this," he offered weakly. He found Fredrica to be pushy at times, and this could make up for it.

Stunned beyond belief, this was their first real conversation, and he was talking about another female. Fredrica stood there looking at him dumbfounded for a moment. His face was handsome, even when sad, but his yellow eyes said that he was a very complicated male.

"Come on, say something!" he blurted at her and then looked around embarrassed at his outburst.

"Well," she said in a small voice. "I can't give you much advice, but I can give you something else."

"What do you mean, something else?" he said suspiciously.

"Merel, remember I'm on special assignment, and I perform unique experiments."

"Yes, we know that," he said with jealousy.

"The tribal governors want me to field test a new drug. I have to help by giving the drug to individual test subjects I feel can help the program."

He looked at her with cautious eyes, trying to read her facial expressions. Expecting this reaction, she responded quickly by saying. "Don't worry it will be safe!"

"Which drug is it you're testing?" he queried.

"It's new and has not been given a name other than a marker as PY231 she said quickly. But it will help you," she said trying to look convincing to him.

"I'm not sure about this Freddie. I've never heard of such a drug in the daily memos," he countered with apprehension in his voice.

"This is not a favor Merel. I'm ordering you to help me," she insisted.

"What about my supervisor? Does he know about this?" he countered.

"They all know about it," she swiftly replied.

"Why are we scientist always the last to know anything?" Merel complained.

"Come with me to my lab," she commanded.

Merel stared at her for another moment and then put his work away, but with some reluctance. Minutes later, they arrived at her lab. The room was unusually quiet, filled with all kinds of instruments and equipment with glassware on neatly arranged shelves in glass-covered cabinets. Being alone like this intensified his anxiety. Slowly, Fredrica came up from behind him and reached for his arm. He gave it to her without further questions.

"Don't worry my friend," she whispered as she stuck the hypodermic needle into his arm, right through his white lab smock. "This will help you see a way to get that new mate you want!" she said with real jealousy in her voice.

Merel felt the cooling liquid traveling up his arm, as she gently removed the needle. In just that instant, he collapsed to the floor. Frantically, Fredrica tried to revive him as a technician came bursting into the lab looking for Merel and finding the two of them on the floor.

"Hey, what's going on here?" he demanded.

"Shut up...," Fredrica snapped and continued. "Help me get him to a chair, he's sick," she commanded as they struggled, barely managing to lift and usher him into her soft padded seat.

"He's starting to come around now," said the technician, as he eyed the two of them suspiciously.

Merel's eyes slowly began to open...for the first time in his life. His head felt disconnected from his body. He swayed from side to side as the room violently spun around him. He looked into Freddie's eyes strangely at first. Then with recognition as if sharing a divine secret. The technician tried to comprehend all that he saw happening, but not understanding it, he shrugged his shoulders and quietly left the room, puzzled.

"Speak to me Merel! How do you feel?"

His eyes fluttered as he looked up at the ceiling then around the room, finally landing on her smooth black face and whispered in her ear, "Free! I feel free, Freddie."

# CHAPTER 6

### Three of Us!

As the days went by, Fredrica began to see more and more of Merel. They took turns visiting each other's dwelling as they tried to understand their newfound freedom. Instinctively they would massage each other's head with a unique soft brush that stimulated their senses helping them to think. Sometimes they performed this ritual without asking for consent. It was in Merel's living room that they sat engaged in conversation while they brushed each other's head.

"Sometimes I can't describe what I'm feeling, my mind...it's so clear from thoughts of despair," said Merel and continued by adding. "I no longer feel empty inside. I'm having problems dealing with these new feelings. I've even lost interest in the female I was telling you about. She's too sad for me to be with right now. I feel so alive with energy," he admitted.

"Merel," she protested. "You must remember that it's the contaminated water that's controlling her emotions. Don't be hard on her. We were once under its grip too!"

"How could that depressant work so well on all of us for so long?" he questioned.

"The drug is everywhere. Even when we washed, it makes its way deep into our skin. This is how they have managed to keep control over everyone for so long. The drug is a substance that behaves like a depressant at times and other times a mild stimulant for sexual reproduction. Anyone that touches or consumes it, especially at birth, quickly succumbs to its control. I became mildly allergic to it as I got older and the vaccine. What I have produced makes our bodies immune to its effects forever. So now...our minds are free...forever!"

"That's criminal," he responded. "We could go to prison or worse," he panicked.

"No, I've given it some thought. Criminals commit crimes against the tribes. They steal and harm innocent tribe members, but I believe they are allergic to the drug and reacting violently as a side effect. Knowing this, we can defeat the first tribe's hold on us. We now have the power to overthrow them. Every mind can have a free thought. There will be no more fear of depression, allowing us finally to control our own destiny as we see fit!" said Fredrica defiantly.

"You're speaking of revolting against the tribal governors!"

"No, I'm talking about freedom! I'm talking about loving someone, who can love you back!" she replied with a wide grin on her face, hoping he would catch the hint. She was starting to like him, and she didn't care if he knew it.

Merel looked at his new friend and smiled; he felt the excitement too. "I'm with you, but first, we must organize ourselves.

Finding members to join us won't be easy," he insisted.

Grinning at him, Fredrica spoke with laughter. "My friend, you must get used to the reality of using all of your brains' abilities. I've already figured out what we must do. In fact, it's simple. We have the seeds, and all we need to do now is plant them in the soil and watch them grow."

"Freddie, I don't know anything about farming. Besides, I'm not going to run around injecting tribe members!" he said naively.

They both laughed at his suggestion and then at each other as Fredrica held up her hand. "No! We don't have to do that at all. All we need to do is release it into the water reservoir that feeds into the workplace and surrounding communities. Once our tribe members start drinking the vaccine in the water, they'll be free. We need no more than three to carry out the task. Neutralizing the main reservoir is all that's necessary for us to do. We increase the chances of success if we try at different times from various locations."

"Hmm, you mean all we have to do is stay clear of spies and penetrate the elite enforcers who rigorously patrol all water installations forty hours a day, nine days a week," he said not amused.

"Let me work out the details," she volunteered. "If you agree with the plan, let's say by tomorrow night, we'll carry it out soon afterward."

"But what about the rest of the workplace complexes? When will we free them?" Merel urged.

"We should have plenty of volunteers after vaccinating our tribe members."

"Well, I agree, we should do this as soon as possible," said Merel and then thought for a moment. "Do you have another injection prepared?"

"Yes. Why?" Fredrica asked.

"I'm going to free a woman tonight. If I'm lucky, it'll make...three of us!"

### CHAPTER 7

### Closing Behind Her

Merel rode in the crowded tram car, hot from the body heat of its passengers. Standing, he always caught the tram at the second stop, to avoid the crowd rushing into the tram and then he waited. Sure enough, two stops later, she got on (she preferred the rear of the car). Filled beyond capacity, but committed, he pushed his way towards her. It was difficult. No one wanted to give up any space, but he eventually made it. Standing directly behind her, he knew then, that she was beautiful even under the harsh artificial lights. With his newly gained freedom, he could understand her even more. Her facial complexion glowed (only photopians can distinguish males from females and all its subtle qualities associated with gender expressions). He tried to calm himself for what must come next. Without warning, she turned and looked him squarely in the eyes. Her face held youth firmly in its grip. Soft yellow eyes cautiously watched his. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Yes?" she asked. "Did you say something?" her eyes twinkled in the dim lighting.

"I'm sorry, I must have been talking out loud," he answered and then said, "I've noticed you on this tram before."

"I know," she replied.

"My name is Merel and yours?"

"Tyla," she said softly.

"That's an unusual name. Are you mated, Tyla?" he bluntly asked.

"No," she stiffly replied as she continued to look out the window passed him that ran lengthwise down the tramcar.

"Committed to be?" he persisted.

"No," she answered annoyed, looking at him and then away again.

"Well," said Merel, relieved as he weaved back and forth occasionally bumping into her. "Where do you live Tyla? I noticed you got off at the stop just before mine."

Her eyes came back as she hesitated for a moment. Depression made photopians submissive, even when they were reluctant or felt strange about answering personal questions. So, she replied hypnotically by saying, "Yes, I live near the station."

Awkwardly Merel asked, "Is it a good community?"

Watching her become embarrassed she responded.

"Of course, it is," she said looking sharply at him.

"Of course," he repeated, trying not to irritate her too much. "Do you live alone," he probed.

"No, my mother lives with me...at least for a while. She's old and her time is short."

"Do you live alone?" she countered.

"I do," he paused for a second. "Do you mind if I walk you home?"

"Why, I don't know you," she said, trying to resist. Merel gathered she had to accept his offer if he wasn't threatening to her.

"Please, if it's not any trouble to you, I'd like to!" he persisted, studying her facial expressions as she thought about it. During their brief conversation, neither of them paid attention to the stops. She felt people pushing again and saw that her station was next.

"You are a laborer, but you behave like a first tribe member. Why?" Tyla questioned.

"Yes, I'm a laborer, as you can see. I can explain my behavior later if you allow me," Merel offered.

She looked at him with squinting yellow eyes, puzzled at his answer. Tyla gazed at him again and thought about it some more. She knew that in the end if he persisted, she would give in to his wishes. So, she hastily replied, "This is my stop," as the doors began to slide open. Merel's heart raced, as he waited for her answer. Tyla stepped out of the tram, then quickly spun around, "Come on! Hurry, before the doors close," she shouted with a faint smile lasting only seconds before being replaced with a dark mask.

Momentarily stunned, he quickly squeezed his way past the closing doors. She put her hand up to her mouth as she forced a laugh and began walking briskly down the platform towards the exit and its spiraling staircase with Merel in tow. Outside, the air was warm as they walked down the platform to the street. Tyla instinctively held on to Merel's arm for support. He stopped and looked up at the station five meters above their heads. The evening sky, as a backdrop of pink swirls, splashes of gray and pastel blues, held twin suns waning in strength just above the horizon. They watched tribe members go up and down the tram stairway. He looked around suddenly realizing how strange it was that he had never been to another station before in his entire life. He had lived in the same community as did his parents and grandparents before him. This particular station, just inside the laborer tribe's boundary line, had a four-meter high green plastic wall decorated with murals showcasing the determined working spirit of the laborers. Beyond that, an artificially created ravine 20 meters deep and roughly 90 meters wide had a fence along its border for safety. Straddled across the ravine was a long bridge. It connected the consumer and laborer tribe communities as well as allowing walkers and service cars passage. This pattern of bridges across ravines between tribal communities repeated itself up and down the landscape wherever there was a tram station. The exception was between laborer and first tribe communities. Their bridge was gated, and only special permission or a work permit allowed entry into the community.

The bridges became a focal point for many Photopians to meet and find mates within their tribes. Each station was encircled by a promenade containing trees and flowers, to promote socializing. One pathway paved with concrete led to the laborer homes and back across the bridge to the consumer side. As you got closer, the path leading towards the bridge widened. This area contained benches for Photopians to sit and look at the bridge or the water in the ravine while waiting for or departing from their tramcars. The communities on either side meandered along the ravine in both directions. One side of the canyon had the congested consumers and the other side openness for the laborers. For the moment, the laborers headed towards their communities, while consumers, strolled back and forth across the bridge, enjoying the view as best they could under the circumstances.

Some laborers walked up to the fence to look across at the consumer tram station and promenade filled with photopians mirroring the same behavior as theirs. For the laborers, the houses on their side presented an interesting pattern of shapes and colors. It caused most Photopians to stop and gaze for hours during the day and evening. The same was not true when viewing the consumer's side with houses the same bland shapes muted in a dull color pattern nowhere near as pretty.

Merel, taking in the sights around him, felt overwhelmed with its sheer beauty and the thought that no one else could see it. He looked down at Tyla and said. "When the time is right, I will tell you everything about me. But first, why are we not continuing towards the laborer community? You are a laborer?" he inquired, looking straight into her yellow eyes as they continued walking back towards the bridge.

"Yes and no!" she replied timidly.

"What do you mean? You're not an informant for the enforcers, are you?"

"Me, an informant? Never!" she spat. "It was informants that took my father away and then my brothers. No, not me," she said, her eyes turning cruel with revenge.

Merel examined her minutely for proof. He had to be sure she was not an informant. But she couldn't be, because she was a random choice. She couldn't possibly be one.

"What I am about to tell you," she said in a low voice, "You must not tell anyone else."

"You have my word, Tyla."

"A few months ago, my father and brothers with a hundred other tribe members saw a visitor from another world land in a strange spaceship. My father said the visitors had killed some of us before a team of enforcers arrived with their leader, and later disabled the spacecraft. The enforcers told my father and brothers never to tell what had happened. My father thought that everyone had a right to know about this amazing discovery of visitors from another planet. So, he tried to tell other tribe members, but the enforcers came and took him away. They claimed he was insane and had to be put away for our safety. My brothers spoke out against the governors for taking our father. Suddenly, they became insane, too, and taken away. For my mother and me, since we didn't see anything and were not threatening to say anything, they reduced our family's social level as an example to others that witnessed the event. The enforcers put tags under our skin." She said, rubbing the back of her right arm and continued. "So, when they scan us, it will give them information about my family. Later, we found out they killed my father and brothers.

Surprised, Merel said, "I didn't know visitors from another world came to our planet."

"Well, you're lucky that you and your family members stayed out of trouble if they thought you knew anything. That's why I find it easier to ride to the laborer's tram station and walk back across the bridge. I guess old habits are hard to get rid of," said Tyla. "Besides, it's good exercise, and looking at the scenery makes me feel a little better. Would you like..." she stopped, frozen in her footsteps. Her eyes closed tightly as an automatic reflex to a passing enforcer's car sirens wailing out rudely as it zoomed across the bridge heading towards the consumer's community.

"Attention...Attention! Everyone clear the station immediately. Clear the park!" a metallic voice shouted from a second patrol car.

A third patrol car with flashing orange lights cruised up to them and stopped. One of the enforcers shined a powerful beam of light on Merel and Tyla as they walked along the catwalk provided for pedestrians.

"You two," said an enforcer pointing at Merel and Tyla. Their hands automatically raised to cover their eyes from the harsh glare of the light. "Move faster! Get off the bridge!"

"Hurry let's go!" Tyla urged Merel, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him along. He stared back at the red-eyed men in their patrol car as they quickly sped away. She was still pulling Merel up the stairs to her apartment while he continued to look back towards the empty bridge with scorn in his eyes.

"Why are they doing this?" Merel asked.

"I don't know. Occasionally they just do!" replied Tyla.

"It seems like they are harassing us for no apparent reason," he vented.

"They don't need a reason," she responded.

"Maybe you're right," he said as he watched the flashing lights on the other side of the bridge. The small electric cars drove in circles through the park selectively forcing only consumers to move on.

Electric Enforcer Car – Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

The enforcers were always brutal and callous when it came to consumers. They never received any respect or consideration for their plight. Herded together, they forced them back across the bridge. However, Merel was certain they wouldn't harass him without a real reason for being on the consumer side. One look at his eyes would have given him more status; they didn't have sunglasses that could hide their eyes. However, if caught with a consumer, he would have much explaining to do!

"What's wrong with you," she snapped, peering into the darkness of her apartment's small lobby.

"I'll explain," is all he would say to her.

"Sure, now come on before we get into big trouble," she insisted. "You can't go back across the bridge until the enforcers are gone."

Together, they made the short flight up the stairs to her one-bedroom apartment. The hallway lights were dim with some missing. The walls had cracks and strips of peeling paint with trash covering the floors. Once inside her apartment, Merel realized just how fortunate he was as he looked about the poorly furnished apartment. He could tell she was still proud as she politely begged him to sit down on a tattered sofa.

"A cool breeze should be up in a minute...maybe. They designed these buildings to catch the breeze coming from the ravine," Tyla said embarrassed. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'd rather sit and talk. Where is your mother?" he asked.

"She's probably in the bedroom resting. Would you like to meet her?" she offered.

"No, it's late, and I don't want to disturb her. Will she come out if she hears us talking?" asked Merel, not realizing that she would play a critical role in his life.

"No, she never comes out unless I call her. It's our arrangement," she replied. "But what could you possibly want to talk to me about?" she queried.

"Well, first, how old are you?" asked Merel.

"Twenty revolutions," she said. It took their planet 731 days to make one complete revolution around their suns.

"I'm twenty-two revolutions" he offered with a smile and continued. "Earlier you mentioned that I was different," he said, as he watched Tyla stand by her only window in the living room; waiting for a nonexistent breeze to come. She frowned for a second, as she waited to hear what he had to say. He signaled for her to sit beside him on her tattered sofa. Her heart raced with fear, but she obeyed.

"I'm a research scientist at the Science Center. I aid other scientists in experiments," he announced, her eyes widening with fear. "A few days ago, they experimented on me."

"Oh no Merel, I'm so sorry to hear that," Tyla warmly apologized. She imagined scientists performing horrible experiments on his body, which explained his behavior.

"On the contrary, I found the meaning of life and understanding!" he cheerfully replied.

"What do you mean? I don't understand," she said confused.

"Freedom!" he whispered. "I can think clearly for once in my life. I'm not tired and...I want you to join me and share this experience," he said, fearing her answer. But she said nothing. She just looked at him blankly as a child would look at its parent for guidance, without understanding the costs. "I must give you a small injection," he said in a low voice. He pulled out a syringe from a small pouch hanging from around his waist.

"You may be unconscious for a moment and experience a slight discomfort. However, once you awaken, your mind will too," Merel said as he gazed into Tyla's lovely yellow eyes. He winked his right eye as a sign of his affection for her. photopians didn't kiss on the mouth. Winking with the right eye was its equivalent while the left eye expressed displeasure. Once a month, for a day, they had acid reflux, which needed venting to prevent a buildup of gasses trapped in their organs. These vapors were strong and harmful to anyone standing too close to someone venting. Photopians suffering from this monthly affliction wore special masks over their mouths to trap the gas in small containers for collection by special tribe members. It was the only way photopians could congregate in masses and a major key to their socialization. It also signaled to the public when someone was 'gassing out' as they called it.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered again, as she moved her arm back as the needle came closer.

"I'm not," she said weakly. "Needles just make me a little nervous," she admitted, as Merel brought the small syringe even closer.

"Relax," he commanded, knowing that she couldn't resist an authoritative voice. She momentarily hesitated again, then gave in, not knowing why. "Good...now close your eyes if you need to...but don't flinch," he demanded.

After injecting her, he caught her, as she immediately collapsed into his arms. Carefully, he placed her upright on the sofa. Freddie had refined the vaccine, removing all of its side effects. Tyla's small frame lie motionless for a few minutes. Then, without warning, her eyes popped open and turned full blast on Merel. The chains of servitude dissolved away, releasing her from years of involuntary bondage. She lunged for him, wrapping her arms around his neck careful not to get too close to his mouth. Moments later, they let go of each other and stood up. They winked passionately until their narrow eyelids ached with fatigue.

"My thoughts," she said, putting her hands on her forehead. "I now understand what you were trying to say," extending her arms out to embrace Merel once more by the shoulders. "Merel, we must leave here," she said with sudden fear. She was afraid that her past might come back and take this good feeling away from both of them.

Merel whispered softly, "Don't worry my friend. You're free now!" As she continued to look into his yellow eyes, she began to cry tearlessly, but still going through the facial expressions.

He gently hugged her again and decided to stay a little longer, making sure she was okay until they heard her mother stirring in the next room. They winked at each other some more and then Merel left, after promising to return later.

"Who was that?" said an old feeble woman's voice moments later standing in the dark shadows after the door closed behind Merel.

"Just a new friend mother," she answered happily.

"You sound strange like your father did. You're not going to be sick like him, are you?" inquired her mother with suspicion swelling inside her frail little body.

"No mother, I'm not going to be sick. It's just that I haven't had a friend for some time," she offered, looking out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Merel crossing the bridge.

"What did he give you?" the old female's voice strained to be heard.

"Mother! I'm fine. Don't say a word of this to anyone!" insisted Tyla. However, her mother looked at her oddly for a moment, thinking deeply. Then, as a second thought, she crept back into her room with the door slowly closing behind her.

# CHAPTER 8

### Abruptly Stopped!

A cool evening breeze swirled around clouds partially hiding a reddish-pink moon of Photopia. Tribe members were coming home from their work third shift, while others were trying to get to work, as the tramcars glided up and down their tracks. An old graying male sat in front of Merel, rocking his head back and forth to the rhythm of the tram. Merel tried not to pay too much attention to the old male but felt deeply saddened for him. The wrinkles on his face told the story of his miserable life. The whites around his brown eyes contained black pigments surrounded by wrinkled, and sagging cheeks. The lights of the city flickered past the old male's thinning hair mixed with the sounds of whaling sirens below. Just before closing his mind's eye, Merel glanced around at his fellow passengers once more. He could tell they were different from him, seeing the invisible chains that bound them. Knowing what he had to do, no longer bothered him as much. Tonight, they would get their chance to taste freedom...and then his tram abruptly stopped!

### CHAPTER 9

### Her Shoulder

There was more enforcer activity than usual as sirens constantly blasted throughout the workplace and within its adjoining communities. Tyla was standing patiently on the platform when her tram approached with glaring headlights, piercing through the semi-darkness. Photopians formed lines beside and behind her waiting patiently as the car past and glided to a gradual stop. The doors slid open and passengers getting off the tram pushed their way through the crowds. When she managed to get inside, she was lucky to get a seat with a view out the window. She sat reticently with a smile on her lovely face, not realizing that she smiled alone. Every passenger that could see her stared at her curiously. Her dreamy gaze out the window reflected something so desirable that her fellow passengers' thoughts grabbed at her. Quickly, with some embarrassment, she recovered herself looking about as if preoccupied, yet still feeling their eyes still on her. No one spoke as they continued staring with curiosity and suspicion. To avoid further attention, she closed her eyes and listened to the tram sliding across the rails. Time past, and she was jerked from her light sleep as she felt the tram stop and start again. There were fewer passengers now when she looked up. Then, as if she had seen something but couldn't remember what it was, she looked again to her left. Two enforcers at the head of the car were approaching in her direction. She felt trance-like as she stood up and walked towards the rear of the tram seeking escape. Just as she looked into the back-door's window, she saw two more enforcers behind her. One of them pointed at her as they hurried their pace to catch her while violently pushing passengers aside. She managed to slip pass them and pull the back window down as fresh air buffeted and swirled about her face.

Tyla found her upper body leaning outside the moving tram.

Tramcar Photo by en.wikipedia.org

With eyes shut, she dropped her cylinder which gave a loud clang as it fell on the tracks disappearing in the semi-darkness just before a large hand touched and then painfully grabbed her shoulder.

# CHAPTER 10

### Carved on His Face

Secure inside a speeding vehicle, sirens screaming, Tyla knew she had only her sick mother to blame for her capture. They didn't go far as the siren stopped and they stepped out. Handcuffed, two enforcers dragged her by each arm towards the station as her fears mounted. The exterior of the station was designed like an ancient fortress of brick and steel while the inside was modern and sophisticated. She watched helplessly as faces glared back at her with signs of contempt. They walked her down a long corridor. Tyla's feet barely touched the floor as they held her up by her armpits and quickly rounded a corner to an elevator. The doors swished open on their arrival. The three of them stepped in. One of the enforcer's jabbed at a series of coded buttons and the doors slammed shut with a thunderous clap. Out of fear, she kept her eyes tightly closed, feeling the swift motion of the elevator going down into the dark bowels of death itself. The smell of body odor from the enforcers quickly filled the tiny elevator compartment. It was all quite terrorizing as she imagined her father taking the same journey she was now facing. She wanted to think of something pleasant like Merel's gentle embrace soothing her into unconsciousness, but suddenly, hands jerked her back into reality. Someone had thrown her down into a hard-padded chair and strapped down her arms and legs. All she saw was stained white-wash walls and a floor with stains and dark marks on its surface. A cold hand grabbed her face and forced it upwards into an intense light.

"Tyla!" yelled a harsh voice.

"Where can we find Merel and Fredrica?"

"Oh, no!" she cried out. "Mother! Oh, mother! How could you do this to me? Why have you hated all the men in my life?" she sobbed, shaking her head from side to side. She had made the fatal mistake of allowing her mother into her life.

"What are you talking about?" growled a face too close to hers. Tyla examined his face with single-minded determination. In response to her staring at him, his hand squeezed her lower jawbone painfully tighter.

"I will tell you nothing! You can do whatever you like with me, but I won't say anything...nothing!" she yelled in defiance, with passion swelling in her heart. Her interrogator, dressed in his black uniform trimmed with thin gold braids around the collar, tried to threaten her with his body language.

"Come now. You know the penalty for committing crimes against the tribes; five years' hard labor on a farm and a lifetime of surveillance. You already know this from your father's misfortunes. It's a life of constant harassment, and that's assuming you survive the work farm. So, tell me...where are they? Quickly? I don't want to hurt you, but I will!" said the commander of the station, running his hands over her frightened countenance. Tyla perceived him as an experienced doctor, eager to work on her mind...and body. But, no, he wasn't a doctor, just a dealer of pain and death. His sharp repeated slaps across her face induced exquisite pain in her lower jaw. She screamed for herself and then to the red-eyed face, as the pain persisted with an ever-increasing sharpness.

An hour later someone rushed into the room, interrupting the commander. The brief respite allowed Tyla's bruised face to feel the throbbing pain. The faces she could see-through half-closed eyes looked puzzled or worried. The commander's face was, in fact, turning dull with blotches of gray. Sounds came back to her ears as she started to smile in pain.

"Commander, we can't hold them back from taking over the building!" shouted a nervous enforcer's whose eyes were darting back and forth in fright. "We're just not prepared for anything like this on such a large-scale. Many of us are leaving the workplace.

Maybe it would be wise for you to do the same?"

"Perhaps you're right. Get my vehicle ready, and hurry," said the commander with a frightened look.

"Commander, what about the prisoner?" questioned one of his subordinates.

Tyla held her breath, waiting for his decision. He looked at her indifferently and said. "I don't care. Drain her battery if you wish! I'll leave it up to you," he replied uninterested, as he quickly left the room leaving his two assistants to ponder over her fate.

"Well," said the assistant closest to the door. "I'm not going to have another killing on my hands," as he headed on the heels of his commander.

Tyla exploded with joy as warm sensations of happiness rolled down her bruised cheeks. Without realizing it, she was riding on the rails of freedom. But it didn't last long, as the second assistant glared back at her with a sick grin carved on his face.

### CHAPTER 11

### Serious Challenge

Many hours later, Merel found Tyla still strapped to her chair; her life pooled around her on the floor. Outside the small room where they kept her captive, people were yelling and shouting words of joy and pain at the same time. Scores of photopians who had sacrificed their lives to disarm the enforcers laid dead or dying with their organic batteries drained of life-sustaining fluids like Tyla's. However, among the survivors, a fire burned brightly lighting the way to freedom. Every photopian had to be free for everyone to enjoy it. They would remember Tyla's sacrifice forever as the only one who managed to complete her mission. Tyla unknowingly dropped her highly concentrated vial over the reservoir as her tram past above it. The revolution had now begun, and she was the catalyst that drove them to freedom. The constant tyranny of a police state imposed by a small band of so-called elite photopians was finally about to end. It would be in time for them to face a new and more serious challenge.

# CHAPTER 12

### Filled with Hunger and Excitement

## A Year Earlier on Photopia

"Commander Tokaar, we have a failure in number two engine," said a cold raspy voice from sub-commander, Number 1.

Benty Spaceship – Picture by L. Sky

"What course of action do you recommend?" said Tokaar.

"There is a planet not too far from here. It's cataloged as quiet. No radio transmissions from its surface," said Number 1, studying the space charts in front of him on a small display screen.

"Shall I have the crew prepare for an emergency landing?"

"Call home base and let them know about our condition and the planet we will land on to repair the ship."

"Yes, commander."

"And tell me when we are in visual range of the planet," demanded the leader. "Also, get me everything we know about this world as well!"

"Commander, we don't have much. It's classified like I said as quiet, non-inhabited. However, this classification is old and needs updating," said Number 1, frowning with disappointment. He wanted to find an inhabited planet to start a harvest. "I will do a survey while we are there to update our records. Maybe it will be suitable for a base."

"You can do whatever you like! Just make sure we land so we can repair the ship and get out of here. I want to join the fleet, so I can make my report," said Tokaar.

"I'm not sure how fast we can fix the antimatter reactor. Number 2 thinks he can fabricate the parts, but it will take time. I will push him, commander. He's ready to get back to the fleet for some rest and good food too!"

"Good! Something to motivate him might make him work faster."

"We are coming into view of the planet now," said Number 1 excitedly.

"What's wrong Number 1?" Tokaar demanded."

"There's a large space object orbiting the planet! See...down there below us," pointed Number 1 at a large digital view screen in front of them substituting as a window.

Photopian Space Barge – Picture by L. Sky

Their three crew member ship was tiny in comparison to the object.

"I thought you said it was quiet?" Tokaar questioned his second-in-command. The space object was purposeful in construction with several radar arrays for communications along its length.

"That's what the records say, commander. But look at the readings," Number 1 pointed to a bank of dials. "It still says the planet is quiet. I don't understand it," snarled Number 1 in disbelief."

"I do," said Tokaar. "They are blocking transmissions going out into space. They are listeners! Look, they are broadcasting on extremely low frequencies," he pointed to another meter and said. "This could be our good fortune and promotion for everybody," smiled the commander as he continued to look at the data his sensors were pouring out.

"Shall I get closer to the space object?"

"No, no, we will go through the drill and follow standard practices. Find a site to land and then radio the fleet what we have found. Tell them to stand by for a full report," said Tokaar filled with excitement and hunger.

### CHAPTER 13

### Sharp Jagged Teeth

From the heavens, a bright object came downwards lighting its path for a landing. Its egg-shaped was unlikely for a spaceship. But the scout ship used it to its advantage looking for noisy inhabited planets, noting their technology and defensive capabilities while landing. Many of the worlds they visited were quiet; no life-forms suitable for harvesting. A few planets made so much interstellar noise until they were like beacons calling out from the dark expanses. Planets classified as quiet and inhabited were always dangerous because you didn't know anything about its technology or its defenses until you got there. If photopians were technologically advance, they should have detected it and fired a missile or two as a warning to stay away.

Most planets with primitive lifeforms were easy to prepare for harvesting. However, a smaller percentage was deliberately quiet, determined to stay hidden in the vastness of space. They were usually advanced and able to defend themselves with no problems. This could be the case, commander Tokaar feared with their ship helpless on the planet's surface. They could attack them at any time while making their repairs. Actually, when they landed, on his view screen, hundreds of beings surrounded his spaceship. He wondered if they could destroy him even though he saw no weapons. Experience, however, had taught him that not seeing weapons didn't mean they weren't there. For the moment, they were satisfied just to stare at the spaceship while talking to one another. Finally, one of the beings left the circle of onlookers and ran, presumably to get help from a military base. Instinctively, the commander fired one of his many guns mounted on his spacecraft and with a streak of yellow light, vaporized the runner. Just before breaking up, the runner gave off an explosion of blinding white light throwing the commander's hand up to block his eyes. The crowd ran back from the spaceship in all directions. There was a moment of pause as they each waited for something else to happen."

"Commander, I just figured out their language. It's simple. Not much thought put into it. They call themselves the Photopians!"

"That name sounds familiar, but, let's see how these photopians respond to another blast of my guns," said the commander, seated at a console bank full of knobs and switches. In an instant, fourteen more photopians disappeared as the atoms that held their bodies together vaporized into bright light. In that same instant, they blinded the commander's view screen again forcing him and the Number 1 to shield their eyes.

"Strange," he muttered. "I've never seen that happen before!"

"Commander remember the harvest," said Number 1 in a raspy voice while gently tapping his leader on the shoulder.

"Right," he said after thinking for a moment. "I don't believe they will be a problem for us. Our technology is superior to theirs. Prepare to go outside," he ordered. "Let's get a better look at our new harvest. Their skin is...creamy black. It's incredible!"

"The atmosphere is standard breathable with a warm climate," announced Number 2, hidden behind a bank of machines two decks above."

"Good," the commander responded, "issue standard weapons only. I want to go out and show them who the master is to make it easier for the main fleet when they arrive.

"How about body armor," offered Number 1.

"No, look at them. These humanoids are harmless," said a confident commander, watching their new harvest scurry about with fear. "Have this piece of junk ready for immediate take-off when I return. I want to see more of the planet for a harvest strategy," demanded Tokaar.

"But commander," said a gruff voice emanating from Number 2. "I haven't started making the parts for the repairs to the ship."

"I don't care. You can make the repairs in flight while we're still in their atmosphere."

"What about the space object? They must have some advanced technology. Maybe we should leave and come back with reinforcements to give this harvest a proper survey. No doubt they are the most desirable harvest we have seen in a long time."

"Do not question my orders," growled the commander.

"But commander, this is a species of hairless beings. Their value is astronomical as a harvest," pleaded Number 1.

"This is exactly why we must risk it! We must know as much as we can to make the harvest fast and safe."

"Yes commander, we will obey!"

"Number 1, since you have so much opinion, I think, you, and I should go out to begin their destiny," growled the commander exposing his sharp jagged teeth as a grin."

# CHAPTER 14

### Before He Went Unconscious

Slowly an exhaust scarred door opened along the side of the spaceship and two humanoid figures ventured out holding weapons. The crowd still curious began to gather closer around them with childlike excitement dressed in thinly clad work clothes of all colors. The scout ship had landed not far from the workplace which naturally drew a large crowd. Many of the onlookers were brown eyes and could not grasp what was happening. The commander was sensing this, raised his gun to shoot another photopian when the crowd parted, and six red-eyed males (he assumed), dressed in black uniforms approached them with cautious respect. Two of them were carrying what looked like a weapon attached to three legs.

Simple Photopian Gun – Picture by L. Sky

It was about a meter long, black and tubular in shape. One end was open and pointed towards the visitors. The other end was closed with a small chain hanging out from its tail end. Attached to the chain was a silver metal ball possibly for pulling. The whole contraption appeared crude in design. The leader of the group was in front and raised his hands to show that he had nothing in them. He approached within three meters and began to speak. Tokaar and Number 1 both wore small language translators that fit in their ears as they listened with amusement.

"Who are you and where do you come from?" demanded the lead enforcer.

The Tokaar pointed upwards to show that they came from space. He tapped his translator and as he spoke a mechanical voice translated his words. "We come from the stars and claim you as our harvest."

"What is a harvest?" asked the enforcer.

"Are you the leader of this planet?" said Number 1.

"No. I represent the governors of this planet. They wish to know what it is that you want," the enforcer said with a sincere look on his child-like face.

"We have come here to claim you as our harvest; repeated Number 1 and continued, "More ships will arrive to take as many of you as we can to our home world for processing. You cannot resist us. We are more advanced and stronger than you. If you or your leaders interfere with our harvest, we will destroy you and your cities with our powerful weapons. Do you understand?"

"I do not understand. What is a harvest?" insisted the enforcer again.

"You will soon know what harvesting means. We will take one of you with us as a sample."

"Is this the only technology that you have?" Number 1 pointed at the black tube with a smile. The crowd saw his jagged teeth again and stepped back.

"It is all the technology we need if you prove to be hostile towards us," said the enforcer backing away from the visitors. The enforcer saw a gleam in the visitor's eye that instinctively told him something dangerous was about to happen. The lead enforcer whispered for his team to get ready.

"Again, why are you here and what is a harvest?" the enforcer shouted from a safer distance, as the crowd drew back again behind the enforcers. They were all standing in a small picturesque park with colorful trees, flowers, and benches that surrounded a small salty lake with a small workplace building behind them.

Tokaar surveyed the scene and made a fatal decision. He raised his weapon and started to fire when suddenly he fell back from an object that splattered over his chest. It was a small ball filled with a gel-like substance that stuck to his rubber flight suit. Tokaar grinned with his jagged teeth and started to fire when he noticed that his suit was burning. He looked down and saw his chest smoldering as the clothing melted away giving off an unnatural odor. Stunned, he fell backward into his Number 1 who barely dodged one of the balls that hit the ship's hull behind him. Shocked for the moment, he quickly came to his senses and dragged his commander into the ship, rapidly closing the door behind them.

"Takeoff, quickly," shouted Number 1. Number 2 rushed to flick some switches that caused the ship to vibrate. "Now help me with the commander. Number 2 jumped down to assist him, then stepped back. The commander had a big gaping hole where his chest used to be. Yellow fluid leaked from around the sides and made its way towards the equipment.

"Is he dead, Number 1?"

"What do you think?" shouted Number 1 in a raspy voice laced with fear.

"He looks bad," offered Number 2.

"Yes, he's actually dead, Number 2."

"You are now in command Number 1. What are your orders?"

"Lift off. How far are we with the repairs?"

"We can make it into low orbit, but we don't have enough power to break away from the planet's gravity," shouted Number 2.

"Number 1, we're losing inside pressure too!"

"Can you fix it?" barked Number 1 as the ship shook violently while rising into the photopian atmosphere.

"No, there must be a hole in the ship," said Number 2.

"What was that stuff?" Number 1 shouted. "It must be acid," he answered himself.

"Number 1, I can't control the ship. We're falling back to the surface!"

"Are you sure? Can't we make it into orbit and drift until we can fix it?"

"Brace yourself Number 1. We're going to crash into the lake!"

"Noooooo!"

" **KABOOM!** "

The egg-shaped scout ship cracked in half spewing flames and smoke. Number 1 remembered seeing black hands pulling him out of the smoke to safety before he went unconscious.

# CHAPTER 15

### Sacrificing Consumers and Criminals

Officially, the governors told the tribe members who witnessed the shocking event that the incident was all a misunderstanding. They claimed a new aircraft for space travel was used to simulate visitors from another world. They wanted to see how tribe members would react to such an event. With this explanation given the matter quietly went away with the help of the watchful enforcers. However, privately the governors felt concerned that more visitors would come. After inspecting the visitor's spacecraft, they knew they were dealing with superior beings. They quickly decided that newer weapons were needed to protect the planet. Production of their acid gel increased significantly by collecting and processing the digestive gasses on a daily basis from the population instead of once a week. Meanwhile, if they did return, they all agreed to give them whatever they wanted. Preserving their first tribe's way of life was all that mattered. Sacrificing consumers and criminals, if necessary, to help.

# CHAPTER 16

### Its Destination...Earth!

Six months later, photopian scientists told their governors that they were able to adapt and merge the new technology of the visitors' spaceship to a spacecraft of their own, giving Photopia interstellar space travel for the first time. Their new hybrid design promised to increase the efficiency of the antigravity reactor to get them to another star system in record time. During one of the meetings with scientists, a young governor's aide came up with a brilliant idea. For years, their space platform eavesdropped on the stellar winds of other civilizations to gain extensive knowledge and understanding of the galaxy. One planetary system boasted having brave warriors with plenty of galactic experience fighting unwanted visitors. They admired their space achievements so much that collectively they agreed to contact them for help. The young blue-eyed aide was made an ambassador given the task of receiving strict instructions not to join the Space Federation and to seek out the human known as Curk to bring his spaceship to save Photopia. As the first galactic space traveler boarded his spacecraft, the most senior governor gave him a letter of introduction and permission to negotiate on behalf of the governors for the right to ask for protection against hostile invaders. One distant planet was their only hope as the small spacecraft lifted off and shot out into the heavens, its destination...Earth!

# CHAPTER 17

### Thousands!

A curled-up figure with no clothing on except for black under shorts huddled alone in a corner. The room was small and well-lit with whitewashed walls that were grainy to the touch. There were no doors or windows only a small black box that contained a powerfully bright light, a camera, and a microphone embedded in the center of the ceiling. No sounds could get in or out making him feel isolated from the rest of the world. Number 1 quietly licked his wounds feeling the silence closing in on him. He did not know how long he'd been in the room. He wondered if any of his crew managed to escape. All he had was an image of the commander with a large hole clean through his chest flashing through his mind. How could it happen? What weapon did they have that could bring his ship down so easily? Then he remembered the image of the ball of acid narrowly missing his head by millimeters. He never saw where it landed behind him. _Perhaps it hit the hull of the ship, eating at the electronics, bringing the ship down that way,_ he wondered. _Their technology just didn't seem advanced enough,_ he mused. "I must warn the fleet," he said aloud, breaking the mind-numbing silence.

One day a door opened, hidden in the seamless walls. Two large photopians dressed in black uniforms rushed in and grabbed him. Holding him firmly, they dragged Number 1 out of the room. He didn't try to resist. He quietly allowed them to do it. He had to conserve his energy, so he could escape and find his weapons to punish them. But then hunger suddenly got the better of him, forcing him to take a deep bite out of one of the enforcers arms. He bit viciously into the enforcers flesh ripping out muscle with his powerful jaws. His head drew back chewing the bloody meat as the photopian howled with pain. His mouth foamed and shortly afterward became bloody. Number 1's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the pain in his mouth intensified. "Ugh, the salt is too much. It is poisonous. He spat the mangled mess out of his mouth in horror. The crippled enforcer was quickly replaced, and they continued to drag him down a long white corridor and into another room. It was the same as the one he had left, but bigger and with one other noticeable exception. A large highly polished metal chair waited for an occupant to sit in the middle of the room. It had hard plastic straps for the arms and legs. Holes in the bottom of the seat were used for draining fluids that ran down the back of the chair into a large hole in the floor. There was nothing else in the room, except a bright overhead light, giving off tremendous heat. They sat him down in the chair with a thud. Immediately, the intense heat from the light fell on his naked body. They strapped him in tightly and left the room. Again, the silence moved in and claimed the space. His mouth was sore with puss oozing from his gums and tongue. He wondered where he was, because of the quiet and stillness. He sat so long under the hot light for what seemed like hours with his tongue swelling up in his ulcerated mouth. He dozed off then jerked his head back up each time his teeth rubbed against his tongue or his arms against the straps tightly holding him down. The pain was becoming tolerable, but the silence and not knowing what was going to happen to him and his crew, if any of them survived, troubled him terribly. The heat caused him to doze off again. Rest was the best medicine for him. But he sat for so long in the chair, until his buttock began to tingle from poor circulation. He shifted his body around in the metal chair to relieve some of the pressure and dull throbbing pain in his back and shoulders. He tried to think of home to take his mind off the pain. He didn't have a family, being a scout. They were usually gone for extended periods of time and a family wasn't practical. Instead, he missed his friends. His parents were both dead, killed during a dispute that often erupted in the Benty Empire. They had a society of about seventy large clans and a few smaller ones located on planets in and outside their solar system. There was one central government run by an elected supreme clan member chosen to represent all the clans in planetary affairs. He presided over a council of representative clan members from each of the seventy territories. His power was unimaginable in scope and beyond question. He alone decided which planets to harvest and how they would divide the harvest among the clans.

Harvesting Photopia was going to be a glorious day, he gloated to himself, realizing it would never happen; they were poisonous. But he continued anyway by chiding; hairless beings needed less processing time which meant they could prepare them faster. Also, genetically, they would be easier to clone on a largescale. It would mean for certain a promotion for him, the commander and the crew. The thought of the crew and the realization of his dead commander forced him to come back to his senses. Once they found out that the inhabitants were poisonous, they probably would eradicate the population and recolonize the planet for a military base.

It seemed like a very long time that he was alone until the door opened again. Three photopians scientists dressed in white uniforms came in and encircled his chair. They positioned themselves, so they could examine him close up in greater detail. One scientist standing in front of him produced an electronic notepad from his pocket and began to type. The remaining two scientists reached over and pulled up wings from the sides of the chair that locked-in-place with a soft click. The wings in place revealed long drawers filled with surgical instruments of various types. From both sides of the chair, they began selecting tools and placing them on top of the wings serving as a countertop. One by one, they put them in neat rows as the bright overhead light danced on their shiny metal surfaces, bouncing their reflections off the walls and ceiling and into Number 1's cold, empty, black eyes. During the time this was taking place, they remained silent, never once speaking a word or making a stray sound. Finally, from the right-side drawer, a large hypodermic needle filled with an orange liquid was placed on the wing. Meanwhile, the lead scientist noted the visitor's reaction to the display of instruments. The needle produced the most detectable response from the big prisoner. The lead scientist looked at his colleagues and delicately nodded his head. They immediately stopped and moved behind and to the sides of the leader producing their own notepads and began to type. The leader, in turn, put his notepad back into a large pocket on the side of his uniform and stepped closer to look at the Benty in more detail, being cautious of its clawed feet. Number 1's glossy yellow body from perspiration and unkempt hair had an unpleasant odor that had no words in the photopian language to describe it. To be safe, they put on thin cloth masks over their mouths, which had been hanging around their necks, leaving only their yellow eyes exposed to watch the Benty prisoner with scientific curiosity. The Benty's eyes were like dark slits containing black pupils that responded to light by getting lighter or darker when a pen light flashed on and off in front of them.

"It's a modified ancient bird species found only in fossil records, do we all agree," whispered the lead scientist.

"Yes, but a very aggressive type of bird," said another scientist standing behind him.

"He will have certain bird characteristics that we can exploit," offered the other scientist.

Next, they examined the hawk-like nose or what looked like openings for air passageways, merging with the top portion of the mouth. The mouth itself was more like an open cavity. Inside the mouth were two rows of sharp, jagged white teeth which formed a jigsaw pattern with no spaces between each tooth. Everything else about the visitor was normal except five long claws for fingernails. It had hard webbed feet covered with tiny scales, and each of the three toes tipped with sharp black claws. They alone forced the scientist to step back a safe distance.

"What are you called?" a voice boomed out of the silence. Number 1who had been intensely watching the three photopians the whole time, jumped when the voice shattered the silence. He uttered a low raspy scream from deep within. The scientists smiled at his reaction signaling that his mind was weakening and continued.

"What are you called?"

"I am a Benty from the planet Theta," he whispered.

"Speak up! What is your rank?" questioned the lead scientist, careful not to ask his name to keep his interrogation impersonal. The sensation of pain was their next alternative if he decided to resist.

"I am a sub-commander assigned to a scout patrol ship," he offered.

"Good! You are responding nicely," praised the lead scientist. "What is the harvest?"

"When we select a planet's inhabitants for processing, we call it the harvest."

"What is processing?"

"You are...our food source," he said proudly. We eat humanoid beings. Your meat is tasty to our species, and we travel the galaxy to find newer, better forms of humanoids. You _were_ going to be our prized delicacy.

"Why? What made you change your mind?"

"It seems your species is too salty; poisonous to us."

"If that was not the case, why would you want us?" pressed the leader with a controlled voice.

"It is easy to prepare species without hair. I remember as a child we had such a species, which was an excellent food source. It was before we could clone species. In the past, these beings could not reproduce fast enough to keep pace with our hunger and became extinct. We have been searching the galaxy hoping to find another race of hairless beings. We will not make the same mistake of letting such a race become extinct. A species like yours could have supplied us with food for millions of generations."

"When will your fleet arrive?"

"I already sent a message to the fleet. They have your planet's coordinates and should be here in less than one orbit around your suns. But I must warn them!"

"How many are in your fleet?" one of the scientists asked.

"Thousands!"

# CHAPTER 18

### The Next Two Hours

Sunlight filtered through trees running along a densely wooded forest, casting long strips of light across a winding path. The solitary footpath seemed to trail into infinity as hidden birds tweeting melodic tunes followed the joggers working up a sweat. Their surroundings continued to embrace them with sweet fragrances and colorful wildflowers growing along the edges of the path. The warm sunlight fell on Dax Northwind like a gentle hand pushing him along. Surrounded by peaceful serenity, Tam Weaver felt connected with nature that continually showered her with soothing sounds and soft lights. But, somehow, despite all of their efforts to feel at peace, it wasn't enough. To compensate, Dax thoughts fell on Zoey Weaver and Tam on Peder's unforgettable smile. Zoey's lovely face filled his thoughts making him hunger for her company. She was mouthing something to him as she faded away forcing him to strain to hear her. Concentrating, a sound slowly penetrated his thoughts.

"Dax, Tam...I'm sorry to disturb you, but we'll be reaching the citidomes last known coordinates before they jumped through the wormhole," said a soft feminine voice inside their heads. The nature scene dissolved away like a watercolor on a white canvas as they found themselves walking down a busy city street. Cars zoomed by and buses bellowed out black smoke laden with mechanical sounds as they grumbled to keep up with the rushing traffic. People were everywhere walking alone, or with someone in a crowd. Lights and shadows bouncing off building windows played over their heads. Dax looked back behind him and saw in the distance the city's famous landscape. Much closer, he saw an area lined with a wall of trees like a park with people streaming leisurely in and out of its large gated entrance.

"Is this New York City?" Dax asked Tam.

"It looks like it, Dax."

" _It is,"_ projected Nia," I thought you might like a change of scenery to go with your mood. I sensed both of you are still new to handling deep space. We have been traveling for a month, Earth time since you left Rubius. I've decided to do something to help with the isolation, with your permission of course. Just remember, this is a virtual world," whispered Nia inside their heads.

With a hint of excitement in her voice, Tam asked, "This place is enormous and life-like. How can you do all of this?"

" _It's only an illusion. But it should be enough to counteract any feelings you may have with loneliness. Explore the city to pass the next two hours away._ "

# CHAPTER 19

### Remain Calm and Don't Move

"I've never been to New York City," said Dax. "But I did plan to see it one day. I admit I never dreamed I'd get a chance to see it like this," he offered, marveling at the scope and details of the concrete canyon surrounding them. The city went on forever in all directions. Finally, they came to a busy intersection and instinctively looked up at the street sign. It read, _Fifth Avenue_ , but before Dax could read the adjacent sign, a yellow taxi swerved around the corner in front of him. It whipped up a burst of hot summer air in his face as Tam reached out and pulled him back. Mortified, he froze for a moment causing pedestrians behind him to juggle their way around him as he disrupted the flow of human traffic.

"Lucky for you, I had New York City experience. The only thing missing is their foul mouths for that risky stunt you just pulled holding them up."

Regaining his composure, Dax successfully negotiated the busy intersection and walked halfway down the block before stopping to lean against a large display window. It was an expensive men's clothing store tucked between two gigantic office buildings rising high into a blue sky painted over the city.

New York City Skyline – Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

Away from the hordes of people, they safely watched them parade by in all shapes, sizes, and colors. They made up all of the nationalities and ethnicities found in a mega city as they streamed in both directions. "Tam, you seem to be right at home with all this confusion."

"No, not really, I just know how to ignore it."

Meanwhile, none of the pedestrians paid them the slightest attention adorn in their suits and dresses that mimicked city dwellers of Earth. A patch of light suddenly caught the corner of Dax's right eye and he turned to focus on a figure. From a distance, it seemed like a familiar shape locked in the hustling crowd coming towards him. Without thinking, he began walking towards the figure and soon stepped off the curve just as a bus drove straight through him. He felt a weak energy stream running through his body as he paused for a moment. "Be careful," yelled Tam. "Where are you going? This city can be a dangerous place if you're not mindful of what you're doing," she said in a soft motherly tone. Dax grinned and looked both ways realizing that it was next too impossible to get across the street against the heavy traffic. He looked up again and saw the traffic signs cautioning him to wait as it counted down. Dax stepped back onto the curve, yielding to protocol acutely aware that he could easily ignore the danger and walk across the madness unscathed. For some reason, Nia was a stickler for safety inside her artificial environment. He decided not to challenge her wisdom. Waiting for the lights to change with Tam standing behind him, they saw Zoey across the street. She too, waited for the countdown to end, smiling at him inside a crowd of pedestrians. He could feel his heart fluttering. His head grew faint just gazing at her beautiful form across the street. Both locked in an imaginary crowd in New York City, eagerly waited for the light to change. Surrendering to their entrapment, Dax allowed himself to be pushed along with the crowd that quickly bustled across the intersection. Zoey was suffering the same fate but managed to somehow let the human flow steer her towards him. Within moments, they were upon each other and holding hands. He instinctively kissed her before realizing she was only a projection compliments of Nia. Not sure which way to go, they let the rambunctious crowd decide for them. Instantly, they were pushed back in the direction Dax had come from with Tam taking the lead. She gazed back at her lovely niece with tears forming in her soft brown eyes. Neither Dax or Zoey resisted as they kept up with the flow, feeling the warmth of each other's company. Dax found himself caught up at the moment squeezing her hand to be sure it was actually real. The soft hand squeezed back and assured him, she was solid. He looked over at Zoey and she, in turn, looked up at him and said, "What are you thinking my love?" sounding like Zoey.

"I've missed you so much! I know you're not real, but I feel the urge to express my feelings all the same," he whispered with tears streaming down the corner of his eyes. The Benty have taken survivors from the lifeboat to their research facility on Rubius. We're going to need a lot of help to rescue them. But when we're finished, I promise to come back to Cefon-5 to get you," he said heading towards a historic park. He paused for a moment to read the sign hanging over the entrance and smiled. He steered her inside along with Tam and dozens of city dwellers.

"Where are we going?" asked Zoey.

"Central Park. We can get out of the crowd and sit down to talk," offered Dax.

Central Park, New York – Photo by pnb.wikipedia.org

"Auntie Tam, you should see your face right now! Listen, you're doing the right thing by seeking help first for the others.

That's all you really can do," said the advanced holographic life-like image of Zoey in her soothing voice firmly holding and lovingly shaking Dax's hand.

"I just don't understand why the Benty are so persistent about catching us. We're not the only humanoids in the galaxy," he exclaimed.

"True, but when we were back on Earth, didn't they have those annoying hunters chasing deer all the time?" Zoey offered.

"Yeah," Dax replied, looking puzzled at Zoey's expression.

"Did you understand _why_ they did it?" she offered.

Dax stared into her lovely brown eyes and said with some resignation, "I see what you mean. They do it because they can and not because they needed too," said Dax.

"They're just doing what they feel is their right. To the Benty, you're nothing more than food. That's all! Once you understand this, you can be more objective as to how you might better deal with them. For now, just focus on finding help," said the holographic image with a warm and inviting smile.

"Auntie, don't you have anything to say to me?"

"How can the companion make you so life-like? I know you're not real, but I can't help but stare at you, Zoey."

"Ok, if that's all you can say. I'm here to relieve your stress from the long space journey you have so courageously undertaken. "Oh, trust me, you're doing a great job of that. But go easy on Dax. He understands you're not real, but his feelings betray him." "By the way, can you tell us where Peder is?" Tam asked.

"Is he still on the planet photopia?"

"Yes, and we must go through the wormhole to get to him," replied the companion in disguise.

Wormhole to another galaxy – Picture by ph.wikispaces.com

Dax pulled Zoey closer to him and said, "I know you're not real, but I need your strength," and leaned over and kissed her fully on the lips. The holographic image responded in kind and together they were locked in an embrace that was more passionate than he could have ever hoped for. Suddenly, the sounds of the city disappeared and dissolved away. He found himself inside Nia's milky white bubble again. A window appeared in front of them, and they walked over to peer outside. Dax could still feel Zoey's lips pulsating on his as large chunks of metal-like debris whizzed by his window forcing him to jerk his head back as a natural reflex reaction.

"Nia," Tam said aloud. "I know this is stupid question, but, where are we?"

"We're at the coordinates where the attack on the citidomes occurred," Nia projected.

"Can you detect if anyone is still alive out there?" she asked. Tam knew it was a futile question, but it had to be asked because it was the right thing to do.

" _I'm sorry, but there's nothing out there. We are..._ " Nia paused and then projected again. " _Wait! I am detecting another ship shadowing a nearby asteroid. I don't think it's one of ours. It's a Benty ship._ "

"What's it doing out here by itself?" asked Dax with concern growing in his voice.

" _It's guarding the jump point the citidomes used to escape,_ " projected Nia.

"Can we sneak passed it without being discovered?"

" _No, I'm afraid that's not possible,_ " Nia projected. _"I'm giving off too much energy to sustain our bubble environment. We must find another way to get around it. I can't outrun it and now with that new weapon to turn companions off, I can't risk your safety._ "

"Well, maybe we can wait it out," said Dax with his soft southern accent.

" _I doubt it. The Benty are probably stationed here indefinitely,_ " projected Nia to both of them.

"We must find help... fast. I'm afraid that our friends will not survive long in the hands of those Benty scientists," said Dax anxiously as something caught his eye in the distance. "Nia, what is that?" he said observing what looked like a spaceship starting to take on a definite shape. It was moving rapidly and would be on them in a matter of minutes.

Spy vs. Companion - Photos by NASA.org and Picture by L. Sky

It was flat and oval in comparison to a conventional Benty spaceship and burnt bronze in contrast to the darkness of space. Dax couldn't make out its overall shape until it dived then came up from below Nia's position. It looked fast, agile and dangerous as it rapidly approached.

" _It's a Benty spy ship. I was afraid of this_ ," Nia projected. " _I can't outrun it either. You better put your helmet and gloves back on._ "

"What are we going to do?" said Dax watching the spy ship grow larger and larger in Nia's window.

" _Do you trust me_?"

"Of course, we do, why do you ask?" said Dax. "My life has always been in your hands."

" _Although_ _I can't take a chance that they won't have that new weapon to deactivate my systems, we're not completely defenseless either. They have one flaw, inherent among all of them as a species that I think I can exploit_ ," projected Nia.

"What is it?" asked Dax.

" _I don't have time to explain, but you'll see what I mean real soon. Just do as I tell you and don't be afraid. I will protect you. But if anything goes wrong, remember that I was always your friend and truly loved you...from a machines point of view, that is_ ," she finished in her soft, soothing voice that assured them that everything would be all right. " _Tam, you remain here. No sense in both of you putting yourselves on the line as you say. This shouldn't take long if I know anything about Benty weaknesses. Our Benty is like all other bird species around the galaxy. They love shiny objects._ "

"I don't understand all of this but do what you have too. I will always trust your judgment."

" _Thanks. Just remain calm and don't move. I'll be invisible but beside you the whole time."_

# CHAPTER 20

### We're Going to Photopia!

In a matter of minutes, the spy ship dwarfed over Dax's body as it cautiously nudged closer to him like a shark closing in to check on a helpless prey. Instantly, a searchlight flooded over his outstretched body floating weightless in space. His faceplate was darkened to keep the harsh light from blinding him. Near his left hand was a large shiny object that reflected the light back to its source. Many seconds passed before the outer hull of the spy ship turned transparent with the ship's crew suddenly visible inside. They leaned over to see what was beside what they believed was a dead humanoid. Nia passively masked Dax's life signs with a layer of sub-atomic particles to fool the Benty into thinking he was dead. However, the luminosity emanating from the object danced hypnotically in their cold black eyes conjuring up thoughts of freedom from military service. The object was about a meter wide and about another meter in depth. Glowing brightly, it was like a shiny beacon calling out to them in the darkness.

"Can you get a reading on it?" said Agon, the commander of the three-crew member spy ship called Xin.

"No, its energy signature is too faint, said his second in command, Preka.

"Where's the companion you detected earlier?" said Agon.

"I lost it. I don't know where it is. It must've run off when it detected our presence," said Preka.

"It's probably looking for survivors," said Zef, the third member of the spy crew.

"I agree," said Preka. "It's probably long gone by now. It knows it's no match for us by itself."

"I guess it's safe to go out. But, if that's what I think it is, I get half and you two can share the rest equally," said Agon in a very authoritative raspy voice.

"Yes commander, that's fine with me," said Zef dutifully. He had an empty life, and now his luck was going to change. He could imagine himself surrounded by beautiful females, all vying to get his attention.

"I'm in too," said Preka as if sharing a piece of Zef's dream and then caught himself. "Who's going out to get it?" Preka nervously asked. The commander and Preka turned to look at Zef sitting behind them.

"Zef can go out and get it," said Agon. "It shouldn't be that heavy. From the size of it, it should be worth a fortune in the marketplace. We'll all be rich, once we get back home," said Agon with confidence in his raspy voice.

"I'll do it," said a committed Zef in a harsh, gravelly voice.

"Alright, suit up and go get our...gold. And make sure the humanoid is dead while you're out there," said the commander.

Ten minutes later Zef was floating in front of a huge gold nugget.

Gold nugget – Photo by commons.wikimedia.com

Its brilliance was unmatched by anything he'd ever seen before in his life. Magically, his black image slid across its golden surface like liquid, while its own luminance slid seductively across his shiny face-plated helmet into his dull black eyes. He was thoroughly blinded by its brilliance as he reached out to touch it forgetting all about Dax. His compressed gas jet pack moved him in closer until he was hovering directly over it. Gently, he pushed the nugget, but it wouldn't budge. Instinctively, he looked up and said to the commander over his intercom system, "It's too dense! I can't move it by myself. It's much heavier than it looks."

"That's good news Zef, excellent news! This means it will be worth even more than I calculated," said Agon and continued.

"Preka is coming out to help you."

"Hurry up! The scout ships might come to see what we're doing," insisted Zef.

"Wait...!" shouted Agon. "I'll go out with you. Zef is right. I don't want to share this gold with another crew either."

All three Benty were soon hovering over the gold nugget as it continued to work its magic in their greedy, cold eyes. Nia patiently waited until all three of them had their hands on her body trying to push the imaginary nugget towards their ship. They looked at each other as they struggled in earnest to push their gold. Then, without warning, Nia released a very high pitch sound that pierced their helmets and instantly rendered them unconscious. Their limp bodies lay dangling motionlessly in the vacuum of space. Quickly, Nia brought her bubble around Dax, who had been watching the drama unfold. She pulled Dax inside her bubble and together, he and Tam watched Nia maneuver them over to the spy ship and through its open hatch. She closed the hatch and floated up through the cargo area, the galley and finally into the circular control room. Dax stepped out of the bubble and found a gravity field allowing him to stand upright without any trouble. He walked over to the strange wrap-around control panel studded with many flickering lights and switches. Two heavily padded seats faced several layers of control panels and an oversized digital window that wrapped around the entire front portion of the ship. A third chair was planted further back and in the middle of the pilot and copilot's seats.

Tam was sitting on the left of Dax. She looked behind her and saw Peder wink at her in the third seat. She jumped with delight looking at his short, curly black hair and slender well-balanced physique. Dressed in blue jeans and a faded long sleeve T-shirt he slowly faded away.

Feeling somewhat safe for the moment inside the formidable spy ship, Dax beckoned Tam to come up to the control center as he removed his helmet only to gag uncontrollably.

" _What is it_ ," shouted Tam inside her helmet.

"The odor in this place! It's outrageous. I can't breathe, it's suffocating. I thought the smell in the other spaceship I piloted was bad. But this is worst. I'm going to keep my helmet on and advise you to do the same," said Dax frowning while Nia protectively hovered over his head.

" _I'm processing the odor you're smelling, and it's basically organic in composition. There's nothing lethal in it_ ," reported Nia.

"Not lethal is debatable. Is this the typical Benty smell?"

" _No, but they do have a strong odor about them. My guess is that something in the galley is filtering up to the control room._

_You know, I never thought about it. But all humanoids have a peculiar odor associated with their species_."

"Nia, do I have bad body odor like that?" asked Dax innocently.

" _Yes, you do and no it's not nearly as bad_."

"Whew, I'm glad to hear that, I think. I don't believe I could take enough showers to control an odor that powerful," exclaimed Dax with a wrinkled face inside his helmet and continued. "Do you know how to operate this ship? The layout looks confusing."

" _Sure, it's a piece of cake as you say_."

" _Where are you going?_ " projected Nia. She watched her young master get up and walk towards the central tube peering down into the galley shaking his head in disgust.

" _I'll put the ship on automatic navigation and steer us through the wormhole,_ " projected Nia.

"Roger," said Dax, as he floated down the hole to the galley.

While the spy ship streaked thru the wormhole unchallenged, Dax cautiously explored the galley. The relatively small all white room with a white plastic-like floor contained a long rectangular metal table with plenty of gash marks on its surface and four worn out black padded chairs in each corner.

There were large sinks and plenty of cabinets on the wall. Two, big rotisserie-styled ovens were embedded side by side on one wall. Dax looked into one of the ovens and jumped back in horror barely able to contain his gag reflexes to throw up inside his helmet.

"Is that what I think it is," he stuttered, remembering his brother. He deliberately blocked Tam's view, but she gently pushed him aside. The body in the oven was grotesque and almost inhuman in appearance.

" _I'm afraid so. It's humanoid_... _I think. Probably someone from one of the citidomes. It doesn't look like a complete torso. I'll turn it off_. _It looks over cooked and perhaps giving off the extra stench we smell. They were probably preparing it when they fell into our little trap."_

Dax turned his head and immediately noticed a large shiny aluminum door to his right.

For some reason, his mind conjured up someone still alive behind it. He felt a moment of euphoria and raced for the door. Inside his head, he heard Nia shout, " _No, don't open it_!" But it was too late; he'd already flung the door wide open. To his horror, his eyes bulged out of their sockets. He witnessed a sight that would be a scar imprinted on his brain for the rest of his life. Hanging on the back of their necks on thick meat hooks scarred with blood, dangling only a few centimeters from the ceiling, hung at least, ten humanoid bodies with faces distorted in agonizing pain. Hanging among them were gruesome looking arms and legs covered in frozen blood. There was only one strip of light running the length of the dank looking room painting grim shadowy shapes against its walls. Some of the cadavers were males of all ages and a few young females still in their prime. They seemed to sway to a rhythm of their own as cold air from fans in the ceiling periodical stirred them in its freezing cold breeze. It was like a butcher's freezer only you knew it wasn't beef you were looking at. Dax turned his head away again and silently closed the door. Tam was looking over his shoulder with tears streaming down from her eyes. Dax looked inside his soul and then around the galley, realizing for the first time that the ship was actually dark and gloomy like a nightmare. Only his imagination could conjure up what had happened with such an odor permeating throughout the ship, violently assaulting the senses like a mad rapist in the night. From that moment, he lost his interest in venturing any further into what he could only describe as a death ship in some horror movie.

"What do we do now?" said a somber Dax to Nia.

" _We must find help from somewhere,"_ she projected.

Dax thought for a moment and finally said with a grin on his face, "I guess all this horror has taken a lot off our minds. Remember, we're going to Photopia!"

### CHAPTER 21

### KABOOM!

The spy ship Xin appeared out of a cloud of cosmic gasses with collision alarms clanging from all parts of the ship. They ran smack into a huge Benty battle fleet. Nia had to quickly maneuver to avoid running into a massive attack ship bristling with laser cannons. Their sudden appearance, fortunately, caught the Benty completely off guard as Nia made a dash to hide in a battle broken space barge riddled with blast holes. The barge was listing 35 degrees to one side as the Xin quickly navigated through a large opening with room to spare. It didn't take long for the Benty to fully recover and send two attack ships to pursue them. The Xin didn't give any customary identification signals, so they sent out ships to destroy it. The hole created in the barge formed a long passageway that exited from the far side of the barge. As anticipated, one followed them in while the other attack ship waited for them at the other end with cannons ready to bring the Xin's journey to an explosive end.

"Ah, do you have any ideas to get us out of this jam, Nia?" shouted Dax sitting in the right padded seat with Nia disguised as Peder in the back seat.

" _Don't worry,"_ said the image of Peder _. "There's another large hole just up ahead on the right. We just need to time it right_."

"What do you mean?" urged Dax while the attack ship from behind increased its speed firing its lasers at the same time. To add to the confusion, large plumes of smoke poured out of the barge's fuselage hiding most of the wreckage. Dax and Peder grinned at each other thinking the Benty might decide to stop the chase for fear of colliding with the barge's wreckage hidden in the smoke. The large pieces of debris littered the area like a floating minefield as the Xin skillfully weaved a trail through the smoke and wreckage. Finally, as if nothing else could go wrong, the Xin started to stutter and shake, its speed slowly diminishing. They both looked at each other again until Peder said, "I think their cannons may have damaged the propulsion system."

"They're getting mighty close with those laser cannons," agreed Dax, as he smiled back at Tam to assure her everything was going to be all right.

"Don't worry, they can't see us either. We just need a few more seconds," Peder's image voiced.

"Okay, but anytime you're ready!" chided Tam looking at her Peder, wishing the real Peder was with her now. Suddenly, their chairs reached out and grabbed them. Eight soft arms grew out of each chair's sides to envelop them. At the same instant, the Xin did a staggering ninety-degree right turn into an adjacent hole that was very narrow, but passable. Just before the turn, on their display monitors, cannon blasts streaked pass them from both directions followed by two massive explosions that rocked the innards of the space barge.

The two attack ships had fired their weapons at the exact same moment hoping to destroy the Xin from both ends. With the Xin's sudden turn, their cannon blasts caught the two ships by surprise. Each crew watched in horror as their destruction rapidly approached in a ball of light. Meanwhile, the Xin was still in danger as another attack ship stopped at the far end of another hole that snaked its way through the barge. The Xin facing another debris field merely glided from its earlier momentum and soon came to a dead stop.

"Dax, there's a white button directly in front of you. Would you be so kind as to press it, please," ordered Peder's image with a slight edge in his voice.

"Sure, what does it do," ask Dax.

"It fires the lasers which I think you should do quickly without asking more questions," he said to Dax. The waiting attack ship anticipated that they would come out this side of the barge if they survived. So, guessing right, they lined up their shot to cause the maximum damage. At the same time, the barge groaned hideously as metal popped. Peder's image looked at Dax and... the lights suddenly went out.

"I can't see the button. Help me," cried Dax as his hands frantically ran across the control panel. Outside, Dax could still see parts of the attack ship not far away...waiting. Fortunately, the ship had not entered the barge, content to remain at a safe distance away.

"Why is it just sitting there? Why doesn't it shoot?" yelled Dax.

"Look up above your head. The barge is breaking up. They want to see if it will collapse on us."

"Okay then, where's that button? Let's shoot those suckers so they will never know...and maybe, we can get out of here before this place crushes us," shouted Dax.

"I'm not sure we can shoot; we need whatever energy we have to move us a safe distance away from the barge. I could put you in my bubble, but the Benty would just track us again and destroy us before we can reach safety."

"No..., that's not an option. Can't you shine a light on the panel?" voiced Tam watching things unfold and feeling the sense of urgency building up inside her.

"Sure, but only for a split second or two. I need to focus all my attention on these buttons over here so that we don't overheat the engines and blow ourselves up. They're automatically overheating, and I don't think I can stop it. For now, just quickly feel around for the top row of buttons in front of you, and start pressing them one by one. You should eventually get the right one." Dax peered into the darkness at Peder's silhouette. His fingers nervously began pushing buttons on the top row of the panel and one by one the ship did something. But no lights came on, and no lasers fired. He continued to press until he felt the last button on the row. "Hurry Dax, this ship is about to go!"

"Ugh, this is the last one, this should be it," said Dax and smashed down hard on the button, but nothing happened. He slid his hand over to his far right a few more centimeters and touched another button sitting off to the side by itself. Without hesitating, he stabbed at it and in seconds the Benty ship blew up into a ball of flames with large chunks screaming past their ship and slamming into the dead hull of the barge. Just beyond the explosion loomed the view of Photopia and the promise of safety.

Photopia – Photo by en.wikipedia.org

A gas tank somewhere in the barge behind them suddenly erupted, and the concussion released by the blast pushed their ship safely through the hole. The massive wreckage of the barge finally buckled under its enormous mass to shatter the remaining infrastructure of the space barge. It gave one last grotesque shutter and reduced itself into millions of pieces of charred metal that ended its long history as a scientific achievement for the photopians.

"I'm picking up signals from a starship on the other side of Photopia," mouthed the image of Peder in the dark.

"Is it the one we're looking for?"

"I think so," he spoke with real sounds coming out of his mouth.

"Why aren't the Benty attacking them?" Queried Dax.

"Starships are very powerful. They have an energy shield like my bubble but far more powerful which can repel any attack the Benty might try to mount. They are probably satisfied just to keep the starship at bay while their main fleet attempts to invade the planet. A single starship could inflict a lot of damage to their harvesters which in turn would severely cripple their efforts to take thousands of photopians."

"You mean food. The Benty can't get more food," said

Tam softly turning sad at the thought.

"Yes, but I didn't want to say that."

"I would surmise the Benty probably already have an invasion force down on the planet's surface," offered Dax.

"Perhaps, but I don't want to upset you two anymore than you already are."

"I understand," said Tam to the likeness of Peder. "I guess we should contact the starship and let them know we need their help?"

"That might be easier said than done. Remember, we're in a Benty spy ship."

"Can't you let them know who we are," insisted Dax.

"Wait, hold on, they have picked up your bio-signals and asking me to verify who you are. Hold on...it's okay. It's going to be all right," offered Peder.

"I don't understand. What did they do?" said Dax puzzled at the speed of the unfolding events.

"They scanned our ship and matched your bio-readings to their database. We are to see Dr. Linkgar as soon as we land.

"Oh, no...!" shouted Peder's virtual image.

" **KABOOM!** "

### CHAPTER 22

### Since You Were a Baby!

"Ugh, where am I," said Tam, being the first to awaken.

"You're in the infirmary on the starship Fia," said Nia.

"I thought I was dead. I remember everything turning bright red. I guess I passed out after that."

"Yes, you did go unconscious, but you were never in any danger. It took only a femtosecond to put you both inside my bubble," said Nia.

"Gee, wow, just a femtosecond. I must remember that," said Dax sarcastically with a smile as he sat up across from Tam. "But why are we here in the infirmary, if we're okay?"

"I wanted you to get some rest. You haven't slept in a while. I was right because you've both been sleeping for almost twenty-four hours."

"Nia, you know we can't afford to waste time."

"True, but you must be sharp and alert if you're going to be of any use. Dr. Linkgar is waiting for you to come see her. Photopia is on a war footing. The Benty are going to invade Photopia and we must try to stop them. We've already established diplomatic relations with the Photopians to afford them protection."

"Well then, let's go," said Dax.

"I think you'll want to put on your lifesuit before you leave," insisted Nia. Dax looked under the sheets and saw he was completely naked.

"Don't they have pajamas around here?" he barked.

Nia floating above his head with her red eyespot looking into his face and said, "Who needs pajamas? Besides, we had to check you for any cuts or bruises. Actually, I did the examination myself. I've seen you naked since you were a baby!"

# CHAPTER 23

### His Quest

"Peder, what are you doing here? I thought you were already down on the surface. What happened?" said Dr. Linkgar, the starship's chief scientist.

"I am not Peder. My name is Dax Northwind."

"Come closer so I can see you better," said Dr. Linkgar extending a hand to beckon him closer to her holographic image.

"Come on, don't be afraid, I won't shock you."

"It's not that, I know you're only made of light. It's the window behind you. I mean, is there a window behind you?" said Dax.

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"I can't see the windowpane. I've never seen a window so...clear!" Dax said in a quiet southern voice.

"And, I've never seen anyone that looked so much like Peder before. You must be related somehow. In fact, could you give me a moment? I'll be right back," she said and dissolved away. Dax stood silently in what was actually one of many nicely detailed conference rooms on Fia. Framed by a huge bay window in front of him was Photopia slowly revolving. Moments later, Dr. Linkgar's image reappeared. "Well Dax, welcome aboard. You are now the second Earth hybrid that I've had the honor to meet. I must admit, you look a lot like Peder_245," she said while unconsciously rubbing her hair into place to be sure she looked okay for the handsome young hybrid standing before her.

" _Nia! What's going on?"_ Dax projected nervously as Nia hovered invisibly above his head.

" _She went to find out who you really are. She discovered that you and Peder are cousins and that your father is...I mean was a great Enac Explorer,"_ whisper Nia inside his head and continued. _"She is a very influential member of the scientific community and likes to surprise people with her talent for finding out discreet pieces of information. So, act surprise and just smile. I think it will go a long way with her in this situation. She obviously likes you."_

Dr. Linkgar's life-like figure made her out to be much shorter and considerably older, but not in a displeasing way. Her image reached out and gently stroked his face causing a warm blush to spark across her face. Fortunately, Dax had become used to solid light images touching him, so he just stood still so that she could finish her examination of his face as she rubbed in his hair.

"I knew your father," she said in a low seductive tone.

Dax looked at the holographic image in disbelief. He couldn't imagine this space-traveling woman knowing his father.

"Oh, do you think that's impossible?" said Dr. Linkgar. "Your father and I go way back to a time when life was exciting, and we were full of energy," said the image looking off into space.

The empty conference room they were in suddenly created an atmosphere that made Dax feel slightly uncomfortable alone with Dr. Linkgar's light image. The hologram moved closer to him and whispered. "You're a younger version of Peder. I knew his father too! Together the three of us explored the galaxy in search of new sentient life forms. However, your father was more passionate about it than we were and continued roaming the galaxy long after we stopped and settled down. Your father was a driven man; your mother I suspect must've been something truly special to get him to settle down and have a family. I tried very hard to get one of those brothers without any luck. I envy any woman that could capture one of them."

"I never knew that side of my father," said Dax. "I guess I never will."

"I have video disks of your father and his twin brother. Perhaps you would like to watch them someday?"

"What? He never said he had a twin brother. Yes, I'd love to see those videos one day."

"Now, why do you want to see Peder, young man?" she asked moving around Dax to view him from a different angle, satisfied with what she saw.

"I need his help to free survivors from a Benty research facility on Rubius. Zoey Weaver mentioned Peder's name to me and that he would probably be on Photopia."

"Zoey Weaver? You know her too." said the image with a surprised look on its face.

"Yes, of course, I do. Zoey and I are very close friends," he offered with a coy smile on his face.

"What makes you think that Peder can help you with this matter?"

"I don't, but I need someone who can help me. All I know is that Tam Weaver also mentioned my...cousin going to this planet."

"You know Tamara too! My you do get around just like your father."

"Why are you so interested in saving these survivors on Rubius?" demanded Dr. Linkgar with a serious interest in her voice.

"They are my friends, and we promised them that we would bring back help to rescue them."

"I seem to recall something about planet Rubius...it's a...," she said fingering her imaginary chin in deep thought when Dax cut her off.

"It's a Benty research facility for breeding humanoids," added Dax and continued. "I fear none of them will last long if help doesn't arrive soon."

"Have you actually been to this facility?"

"Yes! It's extremely dangerous to humanoids. That's why I am anxious to get back there with help. They have monstrous animals guarding the place that eat humans without hesitation."

"But why your cousin Peder?" insisted Dr. Linkgar.

"Well, if I could get him to come, he might be able to get some of his friends to help us as well. With a few companions, it might be enough to rescue them from the scientists and soldiers holding them captive."

"You have a companion?" voiced the light image in disbelief.

"Yes," said Dax, as Nia became visible floating above his head.

"Now this is really getting interesting," said the image smiling with its arms crossed.

"There is something else," said Dax. "The Benty have a new weapon that deactivates companions."

"We know about that," said Dr. Linkgar's image in a matter of fact way. "However, the weapon is only effective up to ten meters. Our scientists believe they have a solution to the problem. Perhaps your companion would like to be one of the first to test it out for us."

"Under the circumstances Dr. Linkgar, I can't see how we could refuse such an offer," said Dax enthusiastically.

"Well then, I think you and Peder should get together. I'll locate his whereabouts on the surface and send the coordinates to your companion."

"Thank you for all your help," said Dax as he smiled down at the image of Dr. Linkgar that melted away.

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine," said a silky voice behind him. Dax whirled around to find a lovely middle-aged woman standing close behind him with an inviting grin on her face. She quickly embraced him and hugged him around the neck for a long time. Dax responded by warmly embracing her with his strong arms around her waist. He realized that he had found at least one friend on the starship to help him with his quest.

# CHAPTER 24

### Help Us

After a short wait, they boarded an Interstellar Space Cruiser (ISC); a spacecraft shaped like a sunflower seed prepped for the journey to Photopia.

Sunflower seed shape of spaceship - Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

Looking off into the distance through a digital window, they could see the Benty Armada with smaller ships buzzing like swarming bees.

"Don't worry they won't attack us; we have a diplomatic badge on the hull to signify we are noncombatants..." Then two streaks of light ran across their path in rapid succession. Immediately, the ISC went into evasive maneuvers to avoid any direct hits to the ship's engines. Dax and Tam in lifesuits went into their sleep chambers to prevent injury from the ISC's twisting and turning. Nia, with Dax's permission, left the ship through a small porthole and engaged the attacking ship drawing its attention away from the ISC, but not before it damaged the ISC's engines. Dax and Tam watched it all on small, paper thin monitors centimeters above their faces inside their chambers.

"Dax," shouted Tam. "Are we going to crash!"

"No but keep your helmet on." The ISC shuttered and dived before righting itself.

"The ship is trying to compensate for now but be ready for anything."

"I can see the planet's horizon."

"We should be landing soon, don't worry. But can you swim, Tam?"

"Oh no, really?"

"I'm looking at the readouts and the probability is that we will hit the water before land."

"I can swim, of course. But I'd prefer to land on solid ground. Can't you do something, Dax?"

"Not without Nia."

"Can you see her? I can't."

"No, I'm a little worried, but I'm sure she will do all she can to help us."

# CHAPTER 25

### To Meet Them

Meanwhile, Nia managed to land on the hull of the attack ship as they screamed towards photopia's atmosphere behind the ISC. Quickly, she pokes a large hole into the ship's hull. Instantly, the attack ship breaks off the pursuit of ISC and heads back into outer space. The hole was large enough to cause damage and as the ship tried to return back into space the air pressure inside the ship dropped while inside the vacuum of space. The attack ship blew up, almost instantly from a random spark in a pool of pure oxygen.

Benty ship explosion – Picture by en.wikipedia.org

Both of them saw the Benty spaceship disintegrate, but Nia was nowhere to be found. Their attention shifted when buzzers and bells started ringing with lights flashing off and on. ISC was at a steep forty-five-degree angle with its speed increasing. Their video strips were flickering on and off, but the last thing they saw was water rushing up to meet them.

# CHAPTER 26

### Yeah!

For a moment, it was serenely quiet. Then an explosion of water rushed into the ISC's cabin. The sleep chamber door opened for Dax, but Tam's was stuck. Dax swam around the cabin through floating debris looking for her. He noticed a red light flashing on the floor and swam toward it. Tam was pounding on the chamber's transparent door when Dax's face suddenly appeared. It caused her to scream with terror at his distorted face until she calmed down and focused her eyes. He motioned to the pad on her wrist and showed her where to press.

"Can you hear me, Tam?"

"Get me out of here," she shouted at the top of her lungs with fear.

"Can you breathe okay? Are you hurt?"

"Just get me out of here! I feel like I'm in a coffin!" Dax pushed his body over to the control panel and pressed several buttons. Tam's door suddenly popped opened, and she shot out like a bullet before the chamber could fill up.

"My, God, all I could see was me sinking to the bottom of the ocean alive and alone, trapped in a tomb forever."

"You're safe for the moment, but we are sinking and must get out of here fast. But whatever you do, don't remove your helmet for any reason. Your lifesuit will inflate as we get deeper to maintain air pressure. Just follow me and don't panic, okay?"

"Okay, let's just get out of here before we sink too deep," insisted Tam.

"Dax," cried Tam into his helmet. "I'm scared."

"Wait a minute then, I'm trying to think of our next move. I believe they have large predatory animals in their oceans. Let's stick close together. The hatch is just over here." Dax hit a button, and the door slid open with ease. But a giant eyeball was blocking their exit trying to peer into the cabin. Tam gave a bloodcurdling scream as Dax tried to close the door. But the door wouldn't budge. The eye turned away, and long narrow teeth blocked their exit. The jaws opened and closed and then was replaced by the eyeball again that slowly blinked.

Photopian fish – Picture by en.wikipedia.org

"What are we going to do now," offered Tam breathing heavily as the eyeball moved in closer.

"First, you must calm your breathing before you hyperventilate. That's right take it easy. We are safe inside the ISC. Good! Now, I'm open to any suggestions the FBI might have to offer. Otherwise, we wait and sink deeper."

"How deep can we go?"

"Pretty deep in these lifesuits. But...if you've noticed, these suits are inflating the deeper we go. So, the more we inflate, the less likely we can fit through the exit door."

"Can't we just let out some of the air from our suits?"

"Sure, but that will only lead to your death by implosion. What we need is for it to leave and...I'm so stupid! Move aside, Tam." Tam floated away from Dax as he went to a cabinet and pulled out a laser weapon.

"I'm going to shoot its eye to see if it will go away. Maybe it will swim far enough for us to get out of the ISC. Grab something to hold on to. Ready...?"

Tam shook her head and said, "Yeah!"

# CHAPTER 27

The Verdict

Tam and Dax flipped and tumbled inside the ISC like a washing machine. A huge tail whipped out once Dax fired his laser into the creature's eyeball. It responded violently trying to get away and slapped the ISC in the process. This sent the ISC upwards and out of the water for several meters. But it happened so quickly that Dax and Tam could do nothing except hold on. ISC plunged back into the ocean with a loud splash and began spiraling down again. Dax tried desperately to stabilize his movements to grab Tam and rush towards the exit. Tam was still off balance but managed to relax her body, so he could pull her out with him, roughly 100 meters below the surface, they floated upwards. Periodically, he looked below them into the dark green ocean. Dax unconsciously did it five times during their ascent, but Dax did it one more time to be sure, and all he could see was a wall of tubular-shaped teeth rapidly rising up their way. He quickly got Tam's attention.

"Don't look down, I have an idea!" Naturally, she looked anyway and started peddling faster.

"Tam calm down, and wait," insisted Dax. As the creature swiftly got closer. At the right moment, they moved to their left; the blind side of the creature. All twenty meters shot passed them and disappeared towards the lighted surface.

"My God, Dax that was too close. Where did it go?"

"I Don't know, but the surface is not far now. I had noticed before we went down that land wasn't too far from where we crashed. Let's just make our way up to the surface and see what the verdict will be."

# CHAPTER 28

Then It Happened

"What is all this stuff floating in the water with us," questioned Tam.

"Food debris, I guess. Something's been feeding around here. Come on, another ten meters and we'll be on the surface. Just keep your eyes out for that creature."

"You mean like that one heading towards us!" Bobbing on the surface. It looked bigger than the last monster by at least another twenty meters and only fifty meters away. Like a yacht, it sailed gracefully on the ocean's surface moving closer towards them. Behind them was the shoreline too far away for them to out swim such a massive leviathan. Now, only twenty meters away, it suddenly stopped, it's large mouth open, it just stared at them.

Monster fish on Photopia – Photo by en.wikipedia.org

Without provocation it opened its mouth wider as if yawning and charged full speed ahead at them. Dax and Tam were transfixed in the water with nowhere to go. The new creature's mouth towered over them with sharp, tube-like teeth ready to tear them apart. It moved closer and closer, as the suns shined brightly in a cloudless sky.

"Don't look at it, Tam. Let's just look at the shoreline instead. It's quite nice."

"I agree for such an alien planet. I just never thought I'd end it this way." The waves started to rush at their backs as something was rapidly pushing them.

"Tam, when it happens, roll into a ball and maybe you'll go in whole. You should try to hold on to something if you can somehow...I will try to use the laser to tear as much of its flesh as possible to create an opening for you to get out and swim away."

"What about you?"

"You know me; I'll think of something."

"Dax, I'm serious!"

"Tell Zoey I never stopped loving her."

"No, you tell her yourself."

Dax looked at her and gave a weak smiled and then it happened.

# CHAPTER 29

### Feminine Voice

## A Week Earlier

The Starship Fia orbited photopia with the space barge floating above. After a lengthy debate with the commander of the starship, Dr. Linkgar was finally authorized to take a delegation down to the surface to meet with the planet's leaders. The commander and Linkgar were at odds with each other over the reception they received when they first pulled into orbit around the planet. The photopian government insisted that they leave and not come back because a great space war was coming, and they did not want to be responsible for their safety. Of course, this was all quite puzzling since they were the ones that sent an ambassador headed to Earth to ask for help resulting in the Fia now orbiting their planet. Their first incredible contact with the photopian ambassador did not last long. He eventually went insane from the prolonged isolation in space and soon afterward died not able to explain his nutritional requirements. But before he departed, he was able to pass on the urgent message his governors had given him to help save their planet. Beyond the message, he was confusing and uncertain of his reality. Now orbiting the Ambassador's planet, something must have happened while they traveled to Photopia. The voice of the government official communicating with them was extremely nervous and asked many questions before finally granting them permission to send representatives down to the surface. Naturally, everyone on board the starship was eager to talk to his or her newly discovered cousins. Only one video disk was found buried in digital dust, pushed aside and forgotten. From then on, the starship buzzed with excitement while social scientists analyzed the planet's culture for the essence of a photopian lifestyle.

Dr. Linkgar, the ship's commander, a temporary ambassador representing Earth, Peder, and a delegation of five crewmembers with their companions loaded into ISC-E, a slightly larger transport vessel to accommodate the extra passengers. There was plenty of chatter and excitement as the hatches were sealed and the vessel silently detached itself from the ball-shaped starship to descend to the planet's surface. Photopia was a rather small planet as planets go and the most striking feature about it was its landmass that ringed the globe. Here and there, they could make out what look like natural or artificial rivers occurring intermittently within the landmass's boundaries. All along the strip of land, cities and other photopian structures marked the surface as the black sunflower seed-shaped ISC-E slowly approached its destination. They could easily make out bridges that spanned across artificially constructed water ravines sandwiched between communities and a city on a massive scale. But they also noticed something else that was quite disturbing and would definitely be a topic of discussion. All in all, Photopia was beautiful in a highly symmetrical sort of way, with three distinct repetitive communities.

Photopian Community Complex – Picture by L. Sky, en.wikipedia.org

From high above, they were able to clearly observe the sprawling complexes separated by water and linked by bridges.

Beyond its banks was a rather bland-looking nondescript community, followed by another strip of water, and then another community. The second community, however, was somewhat more imaginative in its layout and design with a ravine filled with water. But the community in the third complex was composed like massive, opulent fortresses that lay majestically across the landscape. They were like small cities unto themselves, and the ones that they could see in their field of view displayed a rainbow of colors infused into the building's shiny marble stones. Magically, they glistened like a thousand rainbows melted together when their twin suns smiled on them. In all, the pattern repeated itself over the hold of Photopia's surface.

Dr. Linkgar grinned at her colleagues as their companions telepathically linked them all together to share each other's thoughts on what they thought about Photopia. Having met only one photopian so far, they were very anxious to meet more of them to talk about their culture and the obvious class distinctions evident in their communal arrangements.

The ISC-E was instructed to land in an open area resembling a small park complete with polychromatic trees, tables, benches, and a small salty lake. Later they would learn that salt water was considered the gift of life. That it was not something to take for granted (even though the planet was basically eighty percent salt water). Instead, it was cherished and protected as a treasured resource.

As they continued to descend through a smog-covered atmosphere, black specks turned into black figurines that gathered around the landing site where the spaceship would eventually land. Under the control of one of the companions, the vessel descended near a windowless canyon of buildings of various shapes, sizes, and colors. By now, the colorfully dressed crowd had swelled to ten times its original number, as they strained to give the spaceship room to land. It was just before ISC-E finally touched down on the soil of Photopia, that the young ambassador peered through a digital window. Quickly, she brought her hands up to her mouth with genuine surprise and delightfully said, "They're beautiful!"

"Come on, let's meet our new friends," said Peder cheerfully, extending a hand out to the temporary Enac Ambassador for Earth named Holt_736. She grinned and jumped up from her seat embracing his right hand ready to venture out into the alien world with her companion, Charlie, hovering above her head. It was obvious judging by the crowds being restrained from encroaching beyond a hastily constructed barricade that they were anxious to meet their new visitors. Bleeding off the excess heat from the ship's outer skin, a warm burst of steam obscured the crew's departure from the ISC-E. When they stepped out from the mist, onto the soft photopian soil, the crowd gasped and pushed back, witnessing their first encounter with an alien species. Before the Enac disembarked, the companions went invisible to not complicate matters more than they already were. Standing side by side in a semi-circle around the front of their spaceship, Ambassador Holt standing in the middle stepped forward and pronounce, "Take me to...your governors!" she said in a playful, feminine voice.

# CHAPTER 30

### Certain Annihilation

Long ago the Enac visited Photopia and before departing, left a weapon that one day might save the inhabitants from an untimely demise from other-worldly humanoid forces.

The weapon, like countless others left on similar planets, were seeded throughout the galaxy buried in caves or mountainsides.

Frictionless Black Orb on lab table – Picture by L. Sky

For Photopia, the weapon was buried deep in a cave, but historically most of the Photopian landmass was either volcanic or seismically active. The single continent rested on tectonic plates that shifted the landmass like a rolling escalator causing mountains to rise or sink over the course of the planet's geological history. The subsequent rising and falling of landmass shifted the position of the Enac weapon an untold number of times until finally as a consequence it was exposed to the surface. Photopians being naturally inquisitive, over time, exploring every centimeter of their continent's landmass within the last two centuries, found this mysterious artifact. Indeed, it was impenetrable to determine its composition or who made it. But during its short time of discovery, one scientist after another assigned to unlock its secrets failed like all the others before them. The black frictionless orb had a relatively small elliptical shape in its inactive state and grew much larger when electronically keyed with the help of a companion's personal electronic signature. However, the first step for the user to activate the orb was simply to push in the correct three places in the right sequence on its shiny surface which by itself was a daunting task. The orb's surface was mesmerizing to the onlooker distracting their attention. As a further precaution, a unique sound frequency was required to enable its final shape making it ready for use. Enac scientists calculated it would take a humanoid civilization about ten thousand years once they found the orb and discovered the first steps to unlocking the device to realize its true nature as it morphed into a recognizable shape. This assumption held true for many millennia; no being that was genetically enhanced by the Enac had been able to activate the weapon. But, as another precaution, if the weapon were somehow activated further, the orb would automatically send a signal to the Enac home world alerting them of its activation. The Enac would send a counter signal back to the orb immediately deactivating the weapon. The process, however, notified the Enac that one of its genetically enhanced cousins had finally reached the level of advancement for face-to-face contact.

But now, the photopian's situation outweighed their intellectual abilities, and the Enac revealed themselves to save them from certain annihilation.

# CHAPTER 31

### From One to The Other

After much ceremony and official protocols, Ambassador Holt and her team were finally able to get down to business with the photopian officials. It took some convincing that they were actually acting on an urgent message given to them by their photopian ambassador to help repel a Benty invasion. The photopians stared at them and whispered amongst each other. They finally gave in and searched thousands of classified documents from the old ruling regime, that detailed their first encounter with the Benty. Then they discovered a Benty prisoner was killed while attempting to escape. He appeared to be the one responsible for providing the information necessary for sending an ambassador to Earth to ask for help.

"Are you from Earth?" said the highest official in a nervous tone.

"No!" said Ambassador Holt touching a nerve. "We are Enac and have come here at your ambassador's request to help you against the Benty.

"How do we know you're not as bad as the Benty?"

"Fair question," said Ambassador Holt. "We don't eat people!"

The photopians looked at a document thrusted in front of them by one of the members highlighting certain passages to read.

Several minutes later. "Well," said the top official. "I guess there are better ways to meet one's death under the circumstances." From then on, it was easy getting the photopians to cooperate. When Ambassador Holt asked about the ancient weapon and gave a description of it, the photopians promptly smiled and told her where it was located.

It took an hour's travel time for Peder and the Ambassador inside their companion's bubbles to reach the remote research facility housing the orb. It was on one of many coastal peninsulas that quietly separated the facility from the main population. Transparent windows were used throughout the journey giving her full access to view the beautiful landscape of Photopia as they cruised along its coastline. Peder's inner feelings of déjà vu encouraged his companion, Ava, to record his thoughts and feelings for her to playback later. The view was similar to a tropical paradise on Earth with a warm sea breeze that filtered through Ava's bubble kindling fond memories for Peder. They came to a sharp curve running along the coastline. Moments after rounding the curve, a large square building loomed high above on a grassy hilltop; its backside had a terrace facing the ocean. The research facility's construction gave a perfect view of the beach below and the ocean beyond with its bluish-green horizon. Isolated, it was beautiful in its own way, snuggled against the surrounding foliage and all mysteriously alien to Peder. He fondly took in the scene with two soft pink suns above the building with the ocean's horizon back to his right and a white sandy beach below.

They gently landed in a clearing not far from the building. Scientists with their technicians looked on curiously, as Peder seemed to appear from nowhere as Ava removed her bubble. A few technicians moved out of the way as Peder approached followed by Ambassador Holt. They watched them go inside the building. Peder looked back and saw the photopians still staring at them as the glass doors slowly closed behind them. Luckily, they didn't know about the companions floating over their heads. They would have stared even harder if they had seen them. In all, Peder concluded that being on Photopia was like being on a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. Everywhere he looked, photosensitive trees changed colors from a pale green to bright yellow, as the sunlight changed its intensity during the day. The building was cool and quiet with very little commotion, despite the small number of workers busily occupying the facility. The room they were standing in was a lobby with four long corridors attached to each side of the room. Each wall had individual displays of painted murals. Most of the scenes depicted unknown places or events occurring in Photopia's history.

A lanky photopian dressed in a yellow lab smock approached them from the west corridor. It took him a moment to reach them and the whole time, he never took his eyes off them. He had a long gait and swung his arms accordingly with no desire to be in a hurry. He walked up to them and looked down, casting a glance from one to the other.

# CHAPTER 32

### They Are Safe

"My name is Sunie," said a low melodic voice similar to a hum and continued. "I am the lead scientist here at this facility. I would like to welcome you and extend my full cooperation to help you. We have had the object you are looking for in this facility for about two hundred years. Since that time, no one has been able to unlock its secrets. We believe it is damaged. I hope you will not be disappointed coming here?" offered Sunie, his yellow lab smock matching his short-flared pants. Wearing short pants was a new phenomenon for the photopians. After the overthrow of their government, they became more aware of their appearance and started covering most of their bodies with more clothing. It didn't help the Enac crew because it was still difficult to tell the difference between males and females even with the woman's long eyelashes.

Even after seeing firsthand the documents of evidence presented to Ambassador Holt and her committee, Peder was awe struck when Sunie showed them the object the photopians had inherited. Neither Peder nor Ambassador Holt had ever seen the fabled weapon; an oblong orb with a burnt black glow that felt warm and buttery smooth to the touch sat on a long table. It was three meters in length and one meters at its widest center point. No seams of any kind were detectable on its surface; no sample could be removed from its exterior mechanically or chemically. If not for its overall physical characteristics, it could have been an unusually large mineral emanating low conductivity with a uniform heat signature and a low perpetual hum. It had served as a timeless enigma for countless generations of photopians, and now on the eve of a potential alien invasion, its secrets were about to be revealed.

Peder walked over to the photopian's enigma and laid his hand flat on its surface at a precise point along the imaginary midsection of the orb. When the Fia arrived at Photopia, a signal was automatically sent to activate the orb regardless of its location on the planet. In response, its exact location was beamed back to the starship and began communicating its overall condition for operational use. Touching the orb in the correct place, allowed it to respond to Peder by revealing some of its hidden parts as it rearranged itself like a wooden puzzle.

Chinese Wooden Puzzle – en.Wikipedia.org

Carefully, Peder pushed in two protruding knobs on both sides of the orb in a sequential pattern. It produced three more protruding knobs in a linear fashion along the center of the orb twelve centimeters apart. As instructed, Peder slid the knobs in sequence to the left or right like liquid metal until they locked into place again. Finally, Ava invisible above his head produced the correct sound frequencies causing the orb to assume a definite larger shape of a military weapon complete with its own power supply. The table began to strain under its weight but held itself together.

"What is it?" said Sunie. He was utterly astounded and baffled at the same time, trying not to show it. The laboratory was soundproof, so only the low humming of the mega-plasma cannon was audible below his excited voice. Sunie stepped closer to examine it; the humming went up a notch. He ran his large hairless fingers across its frictionless surface and felt its mild vibration reacting to his touch like a stone being tossed into a pond that rippled outwards. The design of the weapon looked purposeful as it barely contained itself on the stainless-steel table.

"This, Sunie is what we technically call a Plasma Discharge Cannon or (PDC) for short. We will use this to repel the Benty fleet when they come within range," said Peder, marveling at the weapon, seeing one for the first time in his life and appreciating its power for destruction better than Sunie could ever imagine. He took a deep breath as if compelled to say something else and looked directly at Ambassador Holt, standing on the other side of the table beside Sunie eyeing the weapon with unusual interest.

"So, there is a weapon like this one hidden on Earth too," she whispered.

"Yes, Ambassador. We must activate it so Earth can defend itself against the Benty as well."

"Our committee and the photopian government have jointly decided to send one of their scientists with you Peder, to Earth. Working together as a team they felt confident that Sunie, you, and your companion could successfully activate the orb for them," said Ambassador Holt.

"Why do we want to send a photopian on such a dangerous mission to Earth?" asked Peder surprised at the suggestion.

"This is how lasting friendships are made. It will give our planets an opportunity to work together for a common cause," said Ambassador Holt looking straight at Sunie, who in turn was still looking down at the mysterious weapon seemingly oblivious to their conversation.

"Tam and Dax can accompany you on this mission," said Ambassador Holt, "I've heard so much about them. Do you know where they are?"

"All I know is that they were coming here to meet us," said Peder.

"I hope they are all right," replied Ambassador Holt.

"Ava is trying to locate them. The last message we received from them said they were leaving the starship. That's all we know right now. Eventually, they will contact us. All we can do is be patient and hope that they are safe."

# CHAPTER 33

### Maximum Effect

A large Benty armada of ships waited outside Photopia's solar system. Giant harvesters with smaller attack ships protecting them formed a wedge to spearhead their attack.

Benty Harvester – en.Wikipedia.org

A small squadron of attack ships in high orbit prevented any ships from leaving Photopia. Two attack ships broke off from the formation to destroy the barge. The defenseless barge once heralded as one of Photopia's greatest technological achievements was quickly abandoned. The barge was left to operate autonomously until it was destroyed by the Benty. To bypass the potential loss of critical energy from its destruction, a team of technicians from the starship built new power units that were more efficient and cleaner requiring less energy to operate and unlimited in its capacity to supply major amounts of energy. They were strategically built around the workplaces and communities with reserve energy units to power other non-essential systems once the fighting began. The construction and placement of these power units revolutionized the way photopians managed their energy resources. They quickly realized the magnitude of what was given to them and the role it would play in their future...if they had a future after the invasion.

In the days that followed, whenever a Benty scout ship appeared in low orbit over Photopia, the Fia would destroy it. Their hope was to give the Benty little reconnaissance information to plan their attack. They wanted to draw the big fleet into the range of their plasma cannon and to do that, they had to deprive the Benty of any information that might warn them of their impending doom. But before any of this could happen, they first had to successfully move the weapon from their secret laboratory to the center of the capital workplace where it was calculated to have the maximum effect.

# CHAPTER 34

### Stop the Benty

Fredrica, Tyla, and Merel were all credited with being instrumental in toppling the tribal governors from power without much bloodshed. Now a committee represented by all its caste members was responsible for ruling Photopia. The transition between governments had come and gone quickly, but the thought of invasion was not as simple. It was like a dark storm cloud that hung over a birthday party. Every passing day drew them closer to their fate. Every day also made them more prepared than the next as technicians from the starship and photopian worked together to prepare for the plasma cannon's arrival into the capital of Photopia, the largest workplace on the continent. It took a lot of brainpower to solve many of the daunting technical problems that plagued the installation of such a complicated weapon with all of its last-minute details. Eventually, they declared with great reverence that they were ready to receive the weapon that would repel the alien invasion force. This was despite the fact that the planet had no air protection, and no substantial ground forces even with their impressive acid guns that could destroy or disrupt just about anything the Benty could send their way. Government officials, under the supervision of the starship technicians, deployed their meager forces in all the workplaces. The hope was that no Benty ships would pass the plasma cannon and attack in the unprotected country sides. Meanwhile, life went on as usual with the inhabitants of Photopia continuing to strive for personal perfection within their culture. Just as they were beginning to appreciate life for the first time in many centuries, an outside force was poised to snatch it away. Fredrica as one of the most famous tribal leaders made frequent visits to the workplaces. She assured the people that they were safe and that all would return to normal very soon. Personally, she too was afraid. There were so many unknowns lurking in the darkness of her mind. Secretly, she felt the power units could never sustain their full capacity once the fighting began. Brownouts and blackouts would likely be inevitable and frequent for months until they could rebuild all the destruction that might rain down on them. In effect, it would postpone their hopes of prosperity. If they did have a future, she speculated that the new power units would change Photopia forever. But, did they really have a future to look forward to in light of all they were now facing? And then there was the starship and its Community of Allied Planets. Ancient tales passed down for millennia told about beings that visited their planet. Not much was known after that except that they helped them in some way that changed them for the better. The question that now kept lingering in her mind was could they stop a full-scale invasion to preserve this gift from above. Could the starship be enough to stop the Benty?

# CHAPTER 35

### Defeating the Benty

Photopia was just a speck of light deep in outer space. Its twin suns in the background made Photopia twinkle like a green beacon in the void of space. Further off in the distance was the cosmos filled with galaxies of all shapes and sizes that twisted and sprawled throughout time and space filled with life or waiting timelessly for life to arrive.

The Great Cosmos – Photo by pl.wikipedia.org

Two companions were deep in space far from friends serving as sentries guarding their tiny portion of the vast cosmos.

" _I detect fifty harvesters and numerous attack ships getting closer to our position. The harvesters can take millions of captives for processing if their invasion is successful,_ " transmitted Eona a relatively young companion of fifteen hundred years to her companion friend, Kea.

" _Let's combine our energy so we can send this information immediately,_ " projected Kea. They floated closer together until their energy fields merged into one allowing them to communicate their precious findings to the Fia, which in turn relayed them down to Photopia's government. The coordinates were perfect for the plasma cannon intercepting the invasion fleet. With no time to spare, the plasma cannon now had to be moved from the secret research facility on the small peninsula off the southern coast of the continent to the Science building deep in the inner capital city of Photopia. A small plastic shelter was hastily erected on the science building's rooftop to house the weapon with its newly trained technicians diligently laboring to prepare for its arrival. But, early in the morning and without warning, many attack ships swarmed out to the planet overwhelming the Fia's defenses.

Benty attack ships heading for Photopia – Pictures by wikipedia.org

The ships charged down to the planet and began attacking the countryside hoping to force the inhabitants to the cities for easy harvesting. The photopian's large acid cannons were strategically deployed to knock down most of the attack ships. But it was not before the Benty devastated a large swath of laborer and first tribe dwellings leaving them in flames.

At about mid-day, the Fia fired on a single Benty attack ship trying to penetrate their defenses. It burned and streaked across the photopian skyscape until smashing into the ocean not far from the secret research facility. The facility was also the site where the components for Photopia's first interstellar spaceship was built. Their most elite technicians were able to back engineer many of the Benty electronic components salvaged from the wreckage created after their first encounter. Their fanatical dedication and honed skills helped send the first Planetary Ambassador towards Earth to seek help in defeating the Benty.

# CHAPTER 36

### Anyone's Hands

There were four survivors on board the specially designed attack ship shot down by the starship. After impact, the four survivors swam awkwardly to the peninsula's shore seeking safety from the ocean's salty water. It took them several more hours to recuperate from the concentrated salt water which was comparable to swimming in a mild acid bath, making them sick and slightly disoriented. They laid prostrate on the warm beach with portable rebreathers attached to their faces filtering out the heavy salt content saturating the air. Outfitted in special black rubber assault suits, a special rubber cap without insignia smashing down their slick hair signified they were an elite unit. A two-way intercom system embedded inside their caps linked them to their mission leader. The tight-fitting suits and cap made them extremely uncomfortable in the naked sunlight. All of them displayed mottled skin rashes from the heavy salt that dried out the exposed yellow parts of their bodies. The red blotchy spots were itchy and forced them to constantly scratch while trying to cope with their new environment. The long beach bordered by stunted trees supported perfectly round leaves the size of grapefruits that shimmered with a rainbow of colors in the mild sea breeze. White sand mixed with tiny gold specks randomly sparkled in the sunlight bestowing a magical quality to the deserted beach.

Despite all this beauty, the four large males in perfect physical condition with sculptured humanoid muscles bulging under their rubber commando suits spent their time recovering. The twin suns harmoniously raised themselves higher above the photopian horizon to further bake the commandos. It was peaceful and uncomplicated despite their unfortunate circumstances as time moved from one itchy moment to the next.

"Regardless of this nasty salt solution they call an ocean; it is very relaxing here on the beach. Perhaps the Empire will consider colonizing this planet after the invasion as a rest stop for the fleet. I don't mind using a rebreather to filter out the nauseating high salt concentrations to relax on these beaches. There is energy in this place that the fleet could benefit from," said the young mission leader, Bo-can, in charge of his small highly trained team.

"Do you think we fooled the starship?" said one of his subordinates.

"Do you see any of those stupid photopians chasing us? Not that they could," said Bo-can with a smug look on his face referring to their brainwave blocker implants and companion deactivator devices.

"Blip-blip!" sounded a small device strapped to Bo-can's wrist.

"Yes, commander," snapped Bo-can, rolling over to his side to shield his conversation from the others.

"Where are you?" demanded a distant voice.

"We are on the peninsula on the southern side of the landmass not far from the target facility. The spacecraft performed flawlessly as planned. However, we landed in the ocean and had to swim to shore. We are mending from the high salt concentration and will be ready to move shortly," announced sub-commander Bo-can.

"Excellent! We have an undercover agent at the facility trying to destroy the weapon as we speak...if it actually exists," said the unknown voice laced with authority. The whole conversation was scrambled in an encrypted code and very low frequency. It required specialized equipment like the one strapped to the mission leader's wrist to unscramble the code and make it audible, so the wearer could understand.

"What are your instructions, commander?" said Bo-can.

"Create a diversion, so our agent can search the facility thoroughly and destroy this mythical weapon if need be."

"Yes, commander. We will do as you say. But how will we get back to the fleet once we have accomplished our mission?"

"That is not a priority right now. You must assist our agent that is your only priority at this time. Complete your mission as assigned and I will consider your request," the voice snapped back at the inexperienced Bo-can.

"Yes, commander, we will obey," replied Bo-can instinctively. He quickly realized that he and his team had been given a one-way mission, and he intended to carry out his orders to the letter and die in the process if necessary. But his teammates might not be as willing as he to die for this mission. So, after careful reflection, he decided that it might be in his best interest to convince them to follow his example by way of deception on his behalf. Soon after, an evil smile filled his face as he thought of the notion of promising them rescue if they successfully completed the mission! He could string them along indefinitely until the mission was completed, after that he was prepared to die at anyone's hands.

# CHAPTER 37

### A Bigger Explosion

Kale felt awkward and out of place as a genetic imposter. He also had an electronic blocker embedded deep in his brain tissue making him difficult to scan for his species signature and in essence, rendered him invisible to detection devices. He also knew of three others like himself on Photopia in key positions as part of the advance team for the impending invasion. They were able to impersonate photopians by studying transmissions containing pictures of each intended victim. Next, they underwent extensive surgical and genetic manipulations to look exactly like their photopian targets. After the procedure was completed, they were smuggled down to the surface of the planet and quietly eliminated their victims and assumed their identities. Eventually, they transmitted encoded messages to inform their leaders of their progress. Kale's mission was to impersonate a technician to destroy the Enac's secret weapon by putting a patch of ultra-high explosives on its surface. But that proved to be impossible because nothing would stick to the orb's surface. Then, to make it even more difficult, someone was always present with the orb monitoring its activities.

In excruciating pain from the cosmetic surgery, Kale patiently waited his time. He felt like his body was being turned inside out and exposed to the salty air around him. He surmised that he would never fully recover from the reconstructive surgery when he returned home and had to suffer the rest of his life as a consequence...but also a hero...with benefits. The photopian body design was just too radical and presented many challenges that made it a masterful scientific accomplishment within itself. No one suspected anything about Kale as he attended to the orb with the other technicians. He admired them for their skill and dedication; they were all extremely competent and willing to serve in any capacity. Nothing escaped their attention...except him. He found this fascinating because they were so attentive to details and quick to see anomalies. He knew his makeover was not entirely perfect. If carefully examined, they would have seen minor imperfections that would certainly give him away. But he continued to work in close confinement, undetected. His next attempt to destroy the orb would be when he was scheduled to check the calibrations before they moved it to its final location somewhere unknown to him. He decided he could sabotage the orb by sticking a patch of explosives with special glue he found in one of the many workrooms. At best, he could destroy the orb by blowing up the entire building. The patch only had to hold long enough for him to get far enough away to detonate the bomb in relative safety. Suddenly it hit him that he really didn't know just how far away he had to get to be safe from the blast. It was entirely possible that the orb could create a bigger explosion to perhaps destroy the entire peninsula.

# CHAPTER 38

### Ambassador Holt

Peder was in the room with others watching the orb's calibration checks when Kale entered the room. There was another technician already in place, going over the calibration figures with a small handheld device. The agent took up his position on the other side of the orb and began dictating notes, his right hand in his lab smock at all times. After a few minutes, his hand was no longer in his pocket.

Ava spoke softly inside Peder's head. " _That technician who just came in is very strange._ "

" _What do you mean?_ " Peder projected back at her.

" _Charlie and I have been trying to bio-scan his mind for several minutes and neither of us can get any readings from him. It's as though he's not in the room with us. We can't read his thoughts or get any kind of species identification signal,_ " Ava projected to Ambassador Holt linked to Peder.

" _Are you sure? That's impossible! You both must be malfunctioning. Run diagnostics on yourselves,_ " commanded Peder to both companions.

" _We_ _have already done that twice now. We can read everyone in this complex but him._ "

" _What do you think this means?_ " mentally queried Ambassador Holt.

" _We're not sure yet. We will study him more carefully. Wait...he's leaving,"_ projected Ava.

" _Quick! Somebody do something before he gets away,_ " shouted Ambassador Holt in her head.

# CHAPTER 39

### I Just Hope

Distracted with their mental conversation, none of them notice the technician placing a clipboard he picked up and innocently placed back down on the orb's table. It rested in an awkward position as if something was underneath, causing it to be unleveled. He looked around the room one last time to see if he was being watched. Casually, not trying to draw any attention to himself, he waved a hand to an embedded light switch in the wall allowing the door to slide open. Without hesitation, he stepped out into the hallway and slowly walked towards the lobby. His left hand now clutching a hard-plastic detonator inside his left smock pocket.

Quickly, he pushed his way through the lobby's double doors and out into a bright, warm morning filled with salty air laced in a fragrant sea breeze with flowers that adversely affected his breathing without a rebreather. He had an urged to run but remembered that he alone knew about the bomb and, therefore, controlled the detonation and so he kept his urge to run in check. Looking around, he ascertained which direction would take him to the far side of the peninsula. Along a path of dried orange leaves, he made his way down towards the beach. The silence was gratifying against a backdrop of calm breezes that stirred the leaves like a gentle spoon in soup. A few of the fallen leaves were still crisp making small crackling sounds. They played a low-key song along the pathway catching Kale's attention. At that same moment of distraction, four Benty commandos rushed passed him two hundred meters away. The tall foliage was the perfect cover to conceal them as they quietly moved past each other undetected. The four trekked through the foliage with weapons ready to annihilate anyone that threatened the mission. Bo-can had assured them that an attack ship had already landed and was waiting for them to complete the mission. Meanwhile, the heat became intense with tiny flying insects trying to get into their mouths each time they spoke. When one did get in, it tasted gritty and salty, not to mention a horrible persistent aftertaste that seemed to last forever.

Every now and then, a Benty commando looked up at the laboratory perched high on the hilltop overlooking the beach. It could only be entered from the front away from the beach. The pathway used to access the facility was much easier on the body than the lush foliage they now hastily plowed through. Despite its secret nature, photopians were never assigned to guard the facility because of its remoteness from any of the workplaces. Once they arrived at the installation, it was easy for the small team to overpower the technicians walking about in the lobby heading to and from labs. They rapidly barricaded the main lobby door to ensure absolute control over the facility. Not knowing who the spy was forced them to wait for him or her to reveal themselves. They had no idea that they had locked themselves in the building with a bomb set to go off at any moment.

Meanwhile, Kale pressed forward through the woods determined to find shelter at the far end of the peninsula. The insects were merciless in their rampage to get into a body cavity to lay their eggs causing significant discomfort and sometimes death if not treated. Eventually, he popped out onto the beach's sparkling sand with, salt water licking at the shoreline in a frothy mix. He looked up and down the coastline and saw no one, but he felt someone was watching him. He couldn't see anyone but sensed it just the same that something was wrong. He felt the detonator reassuring himself that he was still in control while at the same time feeling miserable and tired after his long walk in the salty environment. He knew it was time to fulfill his mission, and so he found a nice shady spot under a colorful tree. Gently, he pulled out the detonator from his pocket. Just as he had done so, a hand came from nowhere and plucked the detonator out of his hand. Kale shrieked with horror and fell backward on the ground. He looked from side to side, trying to figure out what just happened. Peder and Ava had moved back, satisfied that he was now harmless as he looked about in disbelief, his eyes wide with pure horror. He had no backup to rely on, nor any way to secure another detonator. Defeated, he slumped back under the tree and put his head between his legs and began to rock back and forth in deep concentration; his sanity now under attack.

" _I think we can leave him. His ability to detonate the bomb is non-existent. We should get back and disarm the device before it accidentally explodes by its self,_ " projected Ava to her master.

" _I_ _agree!"_ projected Peder, as Ava flew him above the treetops towards the only facility that graced the peninsula. Time had passed quickly following the agent that was determined to get as far away from the bomb as possible allowing dusk to begin filling in the sky. The facility glowed with radiant light from within as it rested on the hilltop, a lovely sight to behold with the waning twin suns and the faint horizon. No one was outside with the facility eerily quiet.

"Something is wrong! All the technicians including the Ambassador are sitting on the floor in the lobby."

" _Do you detect anyone else with them?_ " mentally asked Peder, starting to feel dread mounting in his chest. Everyone was expecting him to keep the ambassador safe from harm.

" _No..._ _it's just like that technician,"_ projected Ava.

" _You don't suppose the Benty know how to block their signals now? This could make them invisible to our detectors,_ " Peder thought back at her.

" _I'm afraid you're right. I should be in contact with Charlie, but he doesn't respond either. If I can't detect him, Ambassador Holt could be in grave danger. They must have a way to block out communications in a local area. This could have dramatic consequences on our ability to stop the Benty if they make it to the planet's surface,"_ projected Ava, while circling the facility from above.

" _Ava, I just hope Ambassador Holt is okay?"_

# CHAPTER 40

### On the Lobby's Counter

The Benty commandos using bio-scramblers to hide their signal went from lab to lab rounding up the entire administrative and technical staff. They held them hostage while desperately trying to find their spy contact. Meanwhile, Ava and Peder watched the whole event unfold while trying to contact Charlie without success. Charlie's mission was to protect Ambassador Holt at all costs. Ava got closer to the facility to telepathically asked the Ambassador where Charlie was, and she told Ava her companion was dead. _One of the commandos had a strange device in his hand that he pointed at Charlie, and he fell to the floor with a thud. She could only assume he died from whatever the Benty used on him. He then put Charlie in his pocket._ Ava could see the _souvenir_ companion bulging from the commando's thigh.

Before Ava left the Fia, she was given a virus that would infect other companions with the same programming codes to nullify the deactivation process. She never got a chance to pass it on to Charlie, so she waited. Now, seeing Charlie in the commando's pocket, Ava drops off Peder behind some nearby bushes and found a small open shaft to get into the facility. Invisible, she floated over to the tough commando and gently bumped Charlie, thus passing on the virus. It would take thirty minutes to rewrite certain codes to reactivate him.

Next, Ava found the same commando using a strange device, and she quickly zapped it with a spike of electricity. The small machine overheated and the Benty predictably dropped it hard on the floor. While on the floor, Ava zapped it a second time with another spike of electricity but, this time, made it appear as if the device was releasing an electrical discharge from its impact with the hard floor. The Benty thinking it was now safe, picked up the device and shook it, confirming that it was no longer functional. He quickly tossed it aside and grabbed both hands on his assault rifle he had trained on the captives. For the time being, Ava thought they were all relatively safe, but not soon enough to save Charlie from what she had heard was an unpleasant experience.

After a lengthy discussion with the Ambassador, Peder and Ava decided to have Ava impersonate the spy to get the Benty to leave the facility. Hopefully, they would think the bomb was somewhere outside the building in the jungle or on the Beach. Ava left the building and reappeared as the Benty agent at the lobby door. It wasn't hard to convince them they had to retrieve the bomb because it could not pass the photopian's detectors employed around the building and grounds. No one doubted the life-like holographic agent dressed as a photopian scientist, and once outside, Peder went into the building and freed everyone while calling and waiting for a contingent of enforcers to arrive and take care of the well-armed Benty. However, just as Ava thought her plan was working, Bo-can unexpectedly became suspicious, and without saying anything to his team broke away and headed back to the research facility. Something was not right about the agent, and he had to prove it to himself. Ava noticed his departure and warned Peder that the mission leader was coming back.

Meanwhile, Ava told the other three to continue to the beach while he checked on their mission leader and then raced back to the facility.

Charlie still didn't answer Ava's calls. He was left sitting on the lobby's counter.

# CHAPTER 41

### They Will Know What to Do

"Hey, why haven't they returned yet?" said Rasha, second in charge, to his two commando friends.

"Maybe we should go back? Without the agent, we are back to where we started. Let's go back!" insisted one of the commandos.

"Wait, who is that hiding over in the bushes? It looks like the spy," said Rasha. Quickly, they walked over to Kale and kneeled beside him, and Rasha asked, "Where is the bomb?"

The spy looked blankly into his cold black eyes and said nothing. His mind was in a fight with his sanity. He looked up again at Rasha and held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth.

"Snap out of it," shouted Rasha, and slapped him hard across the face. "Where is the bomb?" he insisted. The agent remained silent rocking back and forth.

"All right, where is the detonator?" ordered Rasha now towering over the cowering figure. The frightened Kale scuffled back as if Rasha might hit him again.

"He's insane from his alteration, can't you see that?" snapped one of the commandos at Rasha.

"The hand got the detonator," Kale belched out wildly. "Stay here with me for the rescue ship. They will know what to do."

# CHAPTER 42

### The Balcony

After getting word from Ava about Bo-can coming back, Peder decided to move everyone and the orb behind an invisible force field in the lobby once Ava returned. Hiding against a barren wall, they blended in with the lobby's surroundings hiding all of them completely from view. Just as they finished, Bo-can came crashing into the lobby knocking the doors off their hinges forcing them to slide across the floor banging into the lobby wall and against Ava's force field. Bo-can, looking puzzled not seeing anyone in the lobby gave Ambassador Holt an opportunity to study him, seeing a Benty up close for the first time. He was lean and athletic-looking in his black rubber commando suit and matching rubber cap like a small bowl balanced upside down on top of his head. His blotchy yellow skin was riddled with a rash that made him look like a grotesque humanoid dripping with pus. Involuntarily, he scratched wildly on exposed body parts with disregard for the pinkish-yellow ooze that gushed out and ran down his suit and onto the floor. Not satisfied, he dashed towards the laboratories where the orb should have been, only to see it was gone from its table. _They had to be in the building somewhere because there was only one way in and out of the facility...except for the balcony,_ he pondered. Racing to look inside an adjacent lab just to be sure, he found no one there, but his keen eyes did see a lopsided clipboard with a flat, rectangular shaped bomb glued beneath it sitting on the lab table. Gently, he picked up the clipboard and pulled the bomb loose and slid it into his pocket while still baffled as to everyone's whereabouts. _Was that really the agent leading them away from the building,_ he pondered? _It was too convenient, and now everyone including the weapon was gone._ Then he had another thought, his stress levels rising as he envisioned the success of his first mission fading away. The fleet was depending on him to disarm the Enac super weapon. Now, separated from his team, everything boiled down to him and his quick thinking to save the mission. Suddenly, he heard a noise or, at least, he thought he did, but actually, it was Ava projecting sounds at him. Anxious and determined to be successful, he took the bomb out of his pocket and left the lab convinced he heard someone talking down the hallway in the direction of the balcony.

# CHAPTER 43

### Sank Like a Rock

"Here we go Tam, hold on to anything you can. I'll start cutting immediately," said Dax unconvincingly. It seemed hopeless. Even if it just swallowed them the digestive juices alone would be horrifically strong enough to instantly dissolve and kill them. He wasn't even sure if the laser was strong enough to poke a hole through the creature, or if he would be able to take aim at a suitable target inside its moving mouth. More importantly, it would be dark! So, as the mouth shrouded with teeth viciously engulfed them, Dax held Tam's hand and squeezed it tightly as they fell backward onto a soft cushioned mat. Both had their eyes closed waiting for the worse when a voice boomed inside their helmets.

" _I promise not to tell Peder about you two holding hands if you forgive my delay. I was actually inside the creature hoping it would swallow you. Lucky me,"_ projected Nia.

"Nia, get us the hell out of here," shouted Dax.

Nia busted through the creature's rows of tubular teeth and out into the open jetting upwards. It was twilight as Nia traveled towards the research facility. Within moments of settling down, they saw an explosion at the facility. Tam's heart sank like a rock as she whispered Peder's name.

# CHAPTER 44

### A Salty Oblivion

The rear of the research building had a wide deck that rested on two long stilts.

Rear of research facility – Photo by en.wikipedia.org and Picture by L. Sky

Onlookers could view the beach's beautiful unobstructed ocean and endless horizon. Bo-can went to the deck believing he had heard a conversation between two technicians. As he approached the huge sliding glass door with the bomb now clutched firmly in his hand, he was poised to hurl it if the technicians were out there with the orb. Not understanding the magnitude of the bomb; only glory accomplishing his mission overshadowed his mind. If successful, he could report to his commander the completion of the mission by his own single efforts. His hands were slippery from wiping pus dripping down from his face. The stress of not finding anyone in the labs further aggravated his condition as he felt pus trickle around his rebreather poised on the tip of his pointed nose before landing on his chest. Not paying attention to what he was doing, his hand bumped against the glass door as it continued to slide open to become flush with the door seals. The small bomb popped out of his hand and hit the floor with a thud before rolling a short distance, wobbling to a halt on the thick black plastic floorboards. Holding his breath, Bo-can was visibly relieved at his stupidity when the bomb didn't go off reaching down to pick it up. When he stooped down, he noticed a small blinking light embedded in the plastic casing flashing red. Just before his hands actually touched the device, the red light stopped. He looked up and saw that no one was on the balcony. For a flash, the sinking horizon caught his eyes, and he stopped to acknowledge its beauty. A loud **KABOOM** raised the deck and the young mission leader up into the alien sky sending it all crashing down the side of the hill in a lifeless heap.

Bomb explosion on research deck – Photo by commons.wikimedia.org

Bits and pieces of Bo-can plopped into the ocean and slowly trickled down into a salty oblivion.

# CHAPTER 45

### I Will Never Let You Go

"Nia, look, Benty soldiers are down there on the beach!" said Dax.

"They look like they were waiting for something or someone," offered Tam as they picked themselves up off the sand. Let's leave them alone," insisted Tam. She was too close to finding Peder, and she didn't want any more setbacks. Hopefully, he escaped the explosion the same as the Benty on the beach.

"No, wait, Tam, something is wrong with them. Their skin is oozing pus. If only we knew what was causing it? Do you have any ideas, Nia?"

"It could be anything in the photopian environment. I agree with Tam. Let's continue to the research facility, they... **KABOOM!**

"Oh...Peder...No..."

Second explosion – Photo by Google maps.com and picture by L. Sky

There was a second more powerful explosion as a chain reaction from the first bomb.

The massive blast demolished the remainder of the facility except for one wall that stood untouched after the dust and sand had settled.

Nia took her bubble down to investigate. Fortunately, it wasn't a nuclear explosion, just sand and salt water causing a mushroom cloud in the atmosphere.

"I detect survivors in the debris. In fact, everyone is safe. However, the Benty on the beach were not so lucky. They were instantly blown out to sea."

"What caused such an explosion," queried Tam.

"The Photopians must have been working on something big to cause that much damage."

"How did the others survive then," asked Dax.

"Why it was a force field. Ava's to be exact. Charlie, the ambassador's companion formed the first layer and Ava the second which helped them withstand the blast. We can go down now. It's safe."

Nia landed with Dax and Tam stepping out on a crusty surface full of small rubble. Nia, as her black ball, led them over to an intact slab of a floorboard shrouded in dust and salt mixed with smoke. As it cleared, figures started to emerge, one of the figures was a tall man that stood out from the others. Tam recognized him immediately and ran over to grab him by the neck and kiss him hard and full on the lips.

"She drew back and said, "No more separations, is that understood."

"Yes, I agree, it's been tough without you. But we are together now, and you are safe with me. Tam, I will never let you go,"

# CHAPTER 46

### His Career or His Life

"Sub-Supreme Commander Cetus, we have detected two explosions. The second one was catastrophic. Intelligence believes it was the destruction of the weapon. What are your orders."

"We can't wait for the commandos to confirm its demise. Move closer to the planet and prepare for a full-scale invasion. Send the attack ships forward as a screen for incoming ships from the planet. Also, have my commanders meet me in my planning room to discuss the final details of how we will deal with this Enac starship."

"Yes, Sub-Supreme Commander, I will personally deliver this message to all of the commanders myself. But, Sir may I ask about the Enac's secret weapon reported to be destroyed but not confirmed," said Honia, a mousy looking fleet commander decorated many times over for his strategic prowess. "Protocol demands that we verify its destruction before we risk our harvesters going any closer to the planet."

"What weapon? No one has ever proven it to exist," snapped Cetus extremely irritated and impatient. "Maybe this is why they haven't contacted us. They've exhausted themselves looking for something that doesn't exist."

"Sir, if you recall we sent a special team and agents down to the planet to find out if the weapon actually existed," said Honia and was abruptly interrupted.

"And no one has returned or reported seeing such a weapon. I cannot wait for information about a mythical cannon," growled sub-supreme commander Cetus.

"Could this be all the more reason why we should wait until we do hear from them, sir? Maybe the photopians are desperate to keep this weapon a secret luring us within firing range. We must wait, sir," insisted the Honia.

"Don't let your past successes cause you to lose your head, literally, fleet commander Honia," roared Cetus. Move the fleet closer that is an order!"

"Yes, sub-supreme commander," snapped Honia dreading the decision that could jeopardize the success of one of the greatest harvests ever...as well as ending his career or his life.

# CHAPTER 47

### Surface...Quickly!

The Enac weapon arrived and was stationed high above on the roof of Photopia's science building overrun with technicians. Each one applied single-minded determination to keep the machine functioning properly. It swiveled from side to side reaching out to touch those that waged destruction against Photopia. The beam was like a sword waving high above the clouds and into outer space. Everything it touched was doomed. It drew power from all the newly installed power units stationed in and around Photopia's city complexes. They channeled its power through the science building's infrastructure like blood vessels that now vibrated throughout its very core. It hummed with raw energy, thrashing to get out and wreak havoc on anything it touched. Inside an administrative office, on a large photopian screen, the battle moved in slow motion; all reality suspended. Everywhere the orange beam licked, death and destruction followed. First, it touched the attack ships that spearheaded the way. They shattered like hard-shelled bugs oozing out their life's fluids spreading it into space and touching others causing them to rupture as well. Next, the troop transport ships were hit, and they too shattered like glass and flew outwards into millions of pieces. By now the harvesters were picking up steam to back away from the carnage before they too became victims. But many of them in the rear were too slow and blocked the lead harvester's that felt the flames of defeat lick across their surface and rupture into oblivion. The ships that did survive were a mere fraction of the number they commanded minutes before the weapon started its parade of death. Only falling debris from space was left to tell the story.

Falling space debris – Picture by en.wikipedia.org

As photopians watched, many Benty perished that day in a very short period of time and within that time span, a line was drawn in outer space telling the Benty that Photopia was not to be taken that day, or any other day. They had to settle for retreating to lick their wounds. Their exodus swift and unmistakable tracked them back to Theta to tell of the sub-supreme commander's failure to heed the words of his most decorated strategist.

Finally, dead ships, floating in the bottom of the debris field waited their turn to burn in the Photopian atmosphere. On their journey downward, sub-supreme commander Cetus got his last wish to get to the planet's surface...quickly!

# CHAPTER 48

### Zoey Weaver?

No one had any word from Peder and the ambassador for several hours since the Great Space Battle. Only static came from their companions. A huge explosion fell over the area that blanketed all communications for many kilometers.

For the moment, photopians dealt with space debris falling from the sky crashing into communities causing many fires. Many communities were overwhelmed with massive infernos that burned indiscriminately throughout Photopia that stood in its path, as if for nothing else than revenge for their destruction. As dusk crept in the fires were starting to get under control. A small band of humanoids comprised of Peder, Tam, the Ambassador Holt, and many technicians made it into the capital city under the protection of Ava. As they walked through the city, confusion was the main course of action as photopians and Enacians tried to make sense of everything happening around them. The scope of the Benty invasion was only now starting to be realized and understood as spaceship after spaceship fell from the heavens.

"Welcome back everyone, we're glad to see you survived the explosions. Peder must be thrilled to see you," offered a female Enac aide beaming at Tam. Tam blushed and looked away at the thought of finally seeing her lover again. She felt embarrassed for not looking her best at the moment. "Fortunately, we were able to get the orb in time thanks to Sunie and Charlie. The Benty fleet has been destroyed and now is causing fires throughout the continent from falling space debris. But Photopia is safe and that is all that matters!"

Dax, standing outside the Science Center, half-heartedly smiled as he looked around the capital's workplace in ruins from burning debris. His happiness went out to the photopians for successfully defeating the Benty, but his heart was still heavy.

Everyone was excited as his heart sunk deeper into depression. Finally, he spoke out.

"Does anyone know what happened to the citidomes?"

An Enac technician walked up to him and said, "Of course. They're on the planet Giliesa building their city they named Quad-City."

"Did they say anything about the colony they left on Cefon-5?"

"Cefon-5? Oh...them, they're on Giliesa too. The Veranons brought them. Isn't that great!"

"Yes, but what about Zoey Weaver?"

The End...for now

Also, read:

Book #1: Alien Sinkhole

Book #2: No Turning Back

Book #3: Cefon-5: The Plantimals

Book #4: Planet Rubius

Book #5: Photopia

Book #6: Battle for Giliesa

Book #7: Return to Planet Rubius

Easy reading for:

Train Stations – Trains

Airports - Airplanes

Auto Road Trips

Acknowledgements:

Commons.wikimedia.org

Google maps.com

Wikispaces.com

Wikipedia.org

NASA.gov

Razzle Dazzle Design for the Book Cover and Companion.

ABOUT THE

AUTHOR

My Shadow

Lawrence Sky became interested in UFOs as a young man. His desire to know more about them officially started when he read the controversial UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. During his career, he has witnessed UFO sightings in 2005 and 2014 in North Carolina, U.S.A. Since then, he has been committed to understanding the truth about UFOs.

He holds an undergraduate degree and two advanced degrees in the biological sciences. As a result, his writings reflect many years of research on the UFO phenomena.

Currently, Lawrence Sky is calling his work _Science-Fiction Infotainment eBooks_. He wants to educate and entertain his readers about the UFO phenomena using the rich canvas of eBooks.

BACKGROUND

INFORMATION

Hancock, Graham. _Finger Prints of the Gods._ NY. Three Rivers Press. 1995. Digital File.

*

Doran, Mark D. _Alien Invasion: and the origins of Mankind._

Smashwords Edition. 2012. Digital File.

*

Good, Timothy. _UNEARTHLY DISCLOSURE: Conflicting Interests in the Control of Extraterrestrial Intelligence._ London. Arrow Books. 2001. Digital File.

*

Dolan, Richard M. _UFOs, and the National Security State: Chronology of a Coverup, 1941-1973._ VA. Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc. 2002. Digital File.

*

Colonel Corso, Philip J. _The Day After Roswell_. NY. Pocket Books.

1997. Digital File.

*

Bibliotecapleyades.net. _A-Z of Alien Species active in Earths Evolution._ Date Unknown. Digital File.

*

YouTube video: UFOs and the National Security State - Richard Dolan LIVE. 2010. Video File.

*

YouTube video: The Secret Space Program and Breakaway Civilization - Richard Dolan Lecture. 2014. Video File.

*

YouTube video: Richard Dolan, UFO Speech, Best Speech Ever, Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, Rich Dolan, IMU. 2013. Video File. Video File.

*

YouTube Video. Extraterrestrial UFOs are real: Ben Rich Lockheed Skunk Works CEO admits on his deathbed. Oct 12, 2010. Video File.

ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION

## Companion Technology

Companions produce a bubble with zero-point energy taken from their surroundings (the Universe). They can manipulate their interior to any desired configuration. The bubble is impermeable to any outside forces. Invisibility is a result of shifting the electromagnetic spectrum outside the visible light spectrum necessary for humans to see it.

Factually speaking: It is also known as the quantum vacuum zero point energy, which is the lowest possible energy that a physical system may have. In other words, it is a motion that exists even at absolute zero. Another term is vacuum energy.

## Benty

A race of beings enhanced by the Enac. The Benty, as an advanced civilization practices cannibalism. Their insatiable hunger for humanoid flesh has driven them to overpopulation. They now hunt humanoids around the galaxy to keep pace with their ever-growing demands for more food.

## Citidome

I have given my personal rendition of a Citidome. Obviously, it's like a cruise ship, but much bigger with more creature comforts. Oh yeah, its travels between stars. Ahhh, but what a ride!

Would you be willing to leave Earth to travel to some distant planet to restart your life? I think I'd say...yeah!

## Companion

A companion is an autonomous super robot. A companion is a mixture of liquid metals and semi-liquid high-impact plastics controlled by a powerful zero-point energy supply. It is the size of child's bowling ball. The device hovers above its master's head. My only wish is that I could see one built in my lifetime!

## Enac

The ancient Enac were the first within the Milky Way galaxy to compile the book of life or the complete interpretation of DNA. They compared DNA of potential species with theirs and made the necessary changes to their genes to get the desired results they wanted. Their decision for which genes to change came from the planet's natural conditions, such as gravity, climate, and the overall diversity of life.

The DNA virus is artificially created by the Enac to produce a second and third evolution of pre-humans. Keep in mind that the original DNA sparked the first natural human evolution.

## Lifesuit

The lifesuit is not real. This suit is totally imaginary, right? The closest thing to it right now is a military exoskeleton suit.

## NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U. S. government agency responsible for civilian space programs, aeronautics, and aerospace research. However, I suggest you search a little deeper to understand why it was originally formed.

## UFO Organizations

Below is a list of my favorite UFO organizations for studying the phenomenon:

**Mutual UFO Network** (MUFON)

An American-based non-profit organization that investigates cases of alleged UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest civilian UFO-investigative organizations in the United States.

**National UFO Reporting Center** (NUFORC)

This organization is in the United States that investigates UFO sightings and/or alien contacts.

**British UFO Research Association** (BUFORA)

A United Kingdom organization dedicated to investigating UFO phenomena in the British Isles.

## Zeddi

Zeddi is an imaginary alien race from the planet Zeddi. Zeddi is an imaginary alien race from the planet Zeddi. They are similar in appearance to humans except for a long forehead.  
