

# Darkness of the stars

### Andrew Turner

### Copyright 2016 Andrew Turner

Smashwords Edition

### One

Light. Bright, white, blinding. It felt like someone was shining a torch directly into his face. Even with both eyes squeezed tightly shut, the light still penetrated his eyelids. The sudden stinging sensation made him wince. This wasn't right, what on earth is going on.

Disorientation and anxiety quickly flooded his mind. He'd never known his bedroom to be as bright as this. Even in the summer months when the sun streamed directly through the window it was never as light as this.

Alex tried using his arms to shield himself from the glare, but they felt limp and oddly unresponsive, remaining by his side despite his repeated efforts to move them. Gritting his teeth, Alex tried to open his eyes, bit by bit he forced them apart. Tears trickled down his cheeks as they reacted to the increased levels of brightness.

As his vision became more accustomed to the light, the room's surroundings slowly came into focus, this wasn't his bedroom and he didn't recognise anything about this white, empty, sterile place. The seeds of anxiety quickly grew, blossoming into suffocating panic as he struggled to make sense of this new and strange situation.

Straining to see more of the unfamiliar room, his head felt just as unresponsive as his arms. With a growing awareness, he realised his entire body was frozen.

He was paralysed!

Breathing deeply, struggling not to let the panic overwhelm him, he tried to remain calm and figure out what was happening.

Last night he'd gone to bed the same as always. He'd stayed up far too late watching his television with the sound turned down low so his parents wouldn't hear, secretly eating snacks pilfered from the treats cupboard in the kitchen. The last thing on his mind before falling asleep was the homework assignment due in tomorrow, but which hadn't even started. Now here he was lying in some antiseptic room, paralysed, with no recollection of how he got here.

Desperately he tried to make a noise to attract some attention and bring help. But it seemed the paralysis affecting his body was also affecting his vocal cords, leaving him unable to utter a single sound. The panic he'd tried to suppress earlier was now beginning to grow. What the hell was going on here, was this a hospital and if so where were the medical staff, more importantly where were mum and dad?

Suddenly something caught his eye, straining extra hard, he struggled to bring the corner of the room into clearer focus. There was definitely something there, if only he could move his head to see better, but all his efforts amounted to nothing. Although his eyes ached with the exertion and his vision began to blur, he was convinced there was a figure standing in the corner.

Relief surged through him, thank God!

It must be a nurse or a doctor, at the very least an adult.

Redoubling his attempts to make a noise, Alex desperately tried to get the person's attention, but to no avail. The figure in the corner seemed busy with something, he would just have to be patient and wait for them to notice he was conscious.

Lying there totally helpless, Alex's mind began to conjure up frightening thoughts. If his mum and dad weren't here, then where were they? What if they were hurt, what if they were badly hurt, maybe they were more than that, maybe they were... He didn't want to finish that last thought. He was so totally engrossed in his inner turmoil, that at first he didn't realise the person had moved over to him and was doing something near his feet.

At last, now finally I'll find out what's happening to me. He would have shouted with relief if he'd been able to. Trying to practically will the figure standing by his feet to move, knowing they'd realise he was awake as soon as they saw his eyes, if only they'd come a little closer.

Something was wrong, something about the person's head didn't seem right at all. It was far too big, looking stretched somehow. Maybe they were wearing some kind of headgear, some sort of surgical mask or face shield doctors wear for protection during operations.

Alex lay there totally helpless, unable to do anything except watch as the figure moved up towards his chest, eventually allowing him to see the face more clearly.

It was a mask, not of the surgical variety, but the sort worn on the set of a horror movie.

Bewilderment now joined the mixture of confusion and fear already swirling inside Alex. He could see this must be some sort of carer as he or she wore the white robes of someone in the medical profession, but why the mask?

The person carried on with whatever they were doing over Alex's chest, seemingly unaware he was conscious, leaving Alex with little choice, but to lie there and study the strange mask.

The quality of it was striking, while at the same time very disconcerting, given how realistic it appeared. The whole top part of mask formed a large swept back bulbous skull. At the ends of two stubby stalks were the eyes, these protruded at least three inches from the middle of the face. There wasn't a nose or even the slightest hint of nostrils and only the smallest slit of a mouth, situated near the bottom of its sloped chin. The entire mask was covered in a pale grey, almost transparent skin with a delicate network of veins clearly visible just beneath the surface.

Alex was transfixed by the eyes, practically human, except for the fact they were far too big. He even thought it looked as if there was a coating of moistness, making their appearance almost realistic. The wearer of the mask turned its head towards Alex, for the first time looking directly at him.

The strange eyes focused on him, the stalks themselves moving smoothly back and forth in an almost fluid motion. The pupils dilated as the eyelids blinked rapidly in quick succession.

Because of the closeness, Alex was better able to see the skin's texture. He could even make out the tiny throbbing movements of the veins as they steadily pulsed.

The close proximity also meant Alex could now smell as well as look at the figure standing over him.

It was a scent so alien that he felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Even though he tried to dismiss what his eyes were telling him, primal instinct forced him unconsciously to the inevitable truth, it wasn't a mask. The thing standing over him was real!

Alex felt the world lurch, closing his eyes tight, he fought desperately to cling to his sanity. If his body could have moved it would have shaken in fits of uncontrollable panicky spasms. His straining mind cried out, screaming for comfort, for something, anything, to cling to in the whirling storm of confusion. The first thing that came to him was his mother and father. Clinging to that one thought helped a little.

Keeping his eyes shut, he tried to dismiss the insane situation and continue thinking calming thoughts. He struggled to quell the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. With a monumental effort, he again filled his mind with thoughts of family, home and friends; anything to crush the rising tide of madness that threatened to engulf him.

Slowly Alex's mind settled.

Opening his eyes he stared straight into the nightmare face again, panic surged through him once more. But with a gigantic effort, he managed to pull himself together and pacify his racing thoughts. Although he still felt as if he was on the brink of becoming unhinged, he was now able to at least rationalise that this must be some sort of delusion.

Maybe this was a dream.

Definitely a dream, what else could this be?

Now that he'd settled on the explanation he felt relieved. He could now watch in an almost happily detached feeling of calm, as the strange figure went about its business. But as time drew on, his ability to hide behind the comforting thought of this being just a dream dissipated. Slowly Alex's denial crumbled and the reality of his predicament began to take a stronger hold.

During Alex's internal struggles, the being seemed to lose interest and moved further down his body carrying on with whatever it had been doing before.

With his growing acceptance of the situation being real, he also had to admit to himself the figure before him was real.

Just as his intuition had driven him to the conclusion of its realness, deep down he knew this thing was not of this earth. His mind recoiled at the very idea of aliens, even as the evidence stood irrefutably over him.

Aliens, just the thought of it was ridiculous, all those stories in films and on television programs, he'd always thought them only make believe, just things dreamed up by clever people behind the movie scenes.

The panic threatened to bubble up inside him again. Closing his eyes for a short while, he quickly brought himself back under control.

Time seemed to stand still as the alien, or whatever it was, carried on with its strange behaviour. Appearing to study a part of Alex's body, then wave a small white box-like device it held in its hand over that same area. Alex felt no pain during all this, just helpless and the feeling of being at the total mercy of this unearthly creature.

When its hands came into Alex's limited view, it surprised him how delicate they looked, especially for something with such monstrous features. The fact that he would even notice such details at a time like this only made everything feel even more utterly surreal.

From the fleeting glances he got, it looked as if the creature had four fingers per hand, each one very thin and long. The fingers moved independently, more like the tentacles of an octopus than the digits on a human hand.

Watching the hypnotic, almost graceful movements of the being, drowsiness fell like a veil over Alex. The feelings of fear and dread he'd had since waking into this nightmare seemed to fall away to be replaced by a calmness which eased him gently into the comforting realm of boyhood dreams.

### Two

Opening his eyes, the harsh brightness dazzled him again, a wave of despair washed over him with the realisation that the nightmare hadn't ended, it was still going on. Rubbing his forehead to try and ease the dull ache that throbbed inside, it took a few seconds before it dawned on him that he could actually move.

Sitting up slowly, he was careful not to put too much strain on any one part of his body, scared to move too fast in case the alien had injured him in some way. Unnecessary as it turned out. He was quite unharmed and apart from the headache, he felt perfectly fine.

Although Alex felt the presence of someone else in the room, he deliberately kept his gaze locked on the floor. The longer he didn't have to look at the alien, the longer he could pretend all this wasn't real. Then there'd be no need to try and cope with what was actually going on and he could carry on telling himself this was all just a horrible dream.

Closing his eyes, Alex tried to wish away what was happening. Retreating into himself, inevitably his thoughts turned to that of family and home. Swamped by feelings of absolute helplessness, of being totally alone, for the first time in years the need for his mother became an almost physical thing. Unable to hold back the tide of overpowering emotions, the tears started and a small sob escaped from between his trembling lips.

Suddenly the sound of a throat being cleared rang out in the otherwise silent room. Alex's already hunched shoulders rose even further. Hugging himself he began to rock back and forth, sobbing now in total misery.

"It's alright son," a deep male voice spoke out. "Don't be afraid."

The voice sounded human, but could Alex really trust his ears. Who's to really know what an alien might sound like? Slowly lifting his head, not really wanting to look, but knowing he would have to eventually, he opened his eyes.

It was a man, just an ordinary man. The feeling of relief at the sight of him was nearly overwhelming.

He sat opposite Alex on what looked like a slim shelf; Alex himself was also sat on a similar structure on his side of the room. Upon closer inspection, these turned out to be beds, not shelves.

The man appeared to be older than him. In Alex's eyes anyone over the age of eighteen was just plain old, so it was hard for him to be accurate about the man's age. But if he had to, he would probably have guessed him to be in his mid-twenties. He was dressed in a light grey t-shirt and mid-thigh shorts, their tight figure hugging style looked to Alex a little like the gear cyclists wear.

His physique was that of an athlete, extremely well-muscled. Criss-crossing his entire body were multiple scars ranging from small faint ones to large deep red angry looking slashes. They were also quite prevalent on his face, but even with these frightening marks, he had a friendly look about him.

"What's your name?" he asked smiling reassuringly.

Wiping his eyes with the back of his arm and sniffing loudly, Alex tried to answer, only managing a stifled croak. The stranger sat patiently, continuing to watch him, the look of encouragement on his scarred face made Alex feel calmer, swallowing hard he tried to speak again.

"A... Alex..." he finally managed.

"Hello Alex, I'm Paul" he said smiling "I bet you're a little confused right now."

Alex nodded "What's... happening to me?"

"I know how you feel son, well where do I begin?" he scratched at his cheek, as his eyes wandered around the room, obviously trying to gather his thoughts before continuing. The lull in the conversation gave Alex a chance to get his first proper look at his surroundings.

Although this room was just as white and stark as the one he'd awakened in, Alex had the feeling that this was a different one to the last room he'd been in. The four bare pristine walls, apart from the shelf beds, were totally devoid of any features whatsoever. The stark whiteness of them was matched equally by the floor and ceiling, making the whole room appear to merge together into one bright, blank sameness.

"Where am I?" Alex asked tentatively as the silence dragged on, not really sure he wanted to know the answer to this or any other question, just needing the comfort of human interaction.

"I'm assuming you've met our hosts" Paul answered looking back at Alex, who nodded.

"I know you must feel like you're going crazy, and what I'm about to tell you won't help... this isn't earth, we're somewhere... somewhere else, another planet."

Alex felt faint as he tried to comprehend what Paul had just said, the whole room seemed to fade and close in on itself. Shutting his eyes, his stomach rolled, making him feel unsure whether he was going to be sick, as his overtaxed mind struggled to digest the information.

"You ok?" Paul asked sounding concerned.

Alex fought to stop the feeling of hysterical laughter that suddenly bubbled up at the total absurdity of the situation. Breathing deeply and slowly, little by little he regained some semblance of control, his stomach calmed as the threat of the uncontrollable laughter dissipated.

Opening his eyes he motioned for Paul to continue, though not entirely sure if his sanity could take much more.

"You sure you want me to go on?"

Alex nodded again.

"I don't have all the answers, everything I know comes from what I've seen and been able to piece together. As far as I can work out, we're here for two reasons, to be studied... and for experimentation."

"What do you mean experimentation?" Alex asked alarmed.

"They altered me biologically, they've probably started on you too... I bet since you arrived here you haven't felt the least bit hungry or thirsty?"

Alex realised Paul was right, he hadn't felt the slightest desire for food or water this whole time and as far as he could tell he'd been here for a considerable while. "No" he said, shaking his head in answer to Paul's question.

"Well that's one of the first things they did to me, altering my body so it became totally self-sufficient. I no longer need to eat or drink."

The thought that his body had undergone some unknown procedure, although disconcerting, strangely didn't shock him as much he thought it would. The sudden easy acceptance of this as well as the whole situation quite surprised him. He was either beginning to cope or maybe he was just becoming emotionally numb.

"Why would they do something like that to you...... to us?"

"It's quite logical if you think about it, what's better than a lab rat that doesn't eat drink or need cleaning up after?" the expression on Paul's face as he spoke was extremely bitter.

Why me, thought Alex, what was so unique about me? He'd always considered himself pretty average in most respects, slightly lanky, but not unusual for a boy of his age. His mother, in her obviously biased opinion, thought him quite handsome. With his blue eyes, blonde hair and clear complexion, he wouldn't have totally disagreed with her. Though he didn't consider himself to be special or even remarkable enough to make him worthy of becoming an interstellar guinea pig.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Alex asked with a slight tremor in his voice.

"I don't know son, like I said before I don't have all the answers" shrugging his shoulders, he smiled almost apologetically. "But one thing I do know is you're going to have to be strong now, dig deep and find something to cling to."

Getting up he walked over to Alex, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Something important to you," he carried on "important enough to be worth living for...... because you're going to need it to survive in here, believe me."

As he thought about the utter uncertainty of everything that was happening to him, the feelings of dread began to multiply with the concerned look now etched on Paul's face. The internal battle raging inside him led to feelings of numbness that seemed to spread through his mind.

Suddenly and without the slightest indication it was about to happen, a door sized portion of the far wall just disappeared. Both of the occupants of the room looked up in unison. Paul appeared quite unsurprised, as for Alex, he looked on in startled amazement.

Standing on the other side of the doorway was an alien just like the one Alex had seen when he'd first awoken. The being looked much the same as the original one, except this one's garments, although similar in design, was black in colour. Now that Alex could see the whole of the alien, and not just the little he'd seen while in the grip of the temporary paralysis he was able to see how humanoid in appearance it's body was. That was apart from its legs, which seemed to bend in the wrong direction as it stepped back from the doorway. It made a beckoning movement towards Alex with its strangely jointed fingers, it was quite clearly instructing Alex to follow it.

"Go on now Alex, remember what I said, and be brave!" Paul stepped back as Alex stood up on slightly shaky legs and walked over to where it waited patiently for him. Grateful now for the numbness that had descended over him, cloaking him protectively from whatever was to come."

### Three

Alex walked behind the alien as it led him through corridor after stark corridor. The floors, walls and ceilings all totally devoid of any fixtures or fittings, only plain, brightly lit whiteness, exactly like the room he'd just left.

Alex would have preferred to be wearing more than just his pyjama bottoms and an old t-shirt as he followed behind the alien. Given the situation and although it was quite absurd, he still felt uncomfortable at being so under dressed.

The alien's weird bobbing movements as it walked ahead would have been almost comical in another time and place, but Alex's mind was preoccupied, aside from his lack of clothing.

Staring at its back, the idea of attacking his captor fleetingly crossed his mind, the alien wasn't particularly large, in fact quite a bit smaller than Alex. The only thing holding him back, apart from never having previously attacked or for that matter fought anyone before (the couple of times he'd been pushed to the floor by the school bully not really counting), he had no idea what he would do next, even if he succeeded in overpowering the alien. There were just too many uncertainties, but in reality it just came down to being too scared!

The moment passed anyway as it stopped and turned to look at him, its strange stalk eyes fixing intently on Alex's face. For a few fearful seconds, thoughts that maybe this thing was reading his mind entered his head. To Alex's relief the eyes moved towards the wall where a doorway appeared instantly in what had been a solid surface before.

Again the alien gesticulated with its weird fingers, indicating that Alex should move forward through the new opening. With a last glance at his silent guide Alex stepped into the unknown space. The moment he'd moved past the alien, the doorway instantly became a seamless wall again.

He found himself alone in a large, round room, roughly half the size of a football field. The dome shape of the ceiling made the room seem even larger still as it rose high above him.

As with everything else in this place, the sheer unblemished whiteness of the walls glared back at him.

Walking around the bare room, examining the smooth walls Alex's mind began to work overtime, he wondered what could possibly happen next.

Even with the constant churning of his mind, time seemed to stand still until eventually he stopped pacing and sat down.

Maybe this place was nothing more than some kind of holding cell he thought. The longer nothing happened the more Alex relaxed, his eyelids felt heavy, even as he struggled to keep a watch on the surrounding walls.

A noise startled Alex making him look up quickly, there was definitely something there. Rubbing at his eyes in an effort to rid the drowsiness that clouded his vision he looked again.

Alex felt his whole body turn cold; the breath literally froze inside his lungs. What stood on the other side of the room was like something out of a horror movie. At first Alex struggled to process what he was seeing, the thing in front of him was so alien, it hurt his mind just to look at it.

Dark red in colour, the creature stood at about chest height, although it's hugely muscled body gave the appearance of something far larger. Two boulder sized shoulders tapered down to a nest of tentacles with which it supported its grub-like body. More thick, snake-like tendrils splayed out from the stubby bottom half of its bloated abdomen. The creature's large black bulbous eyes stared unblinking at him from between its shoulders, the head directly integrated into the main part of its body. A vertical slit of a mouth underneath the eyes opened wide, revealing a wickedly sharp looking set of teeth.

Alex staggered to his feet, his legs prickling with pins and needles as he stood still watching the horror before him.

Rearing up, the red monster supported itself on its lower body, leaving its fore limbs free to point directly at Alex. The massively muscled tentacles flexing as they curled and writhed in the air.

Confusion and fear rooted Alex firmly to the spot as the beast began to circle him, suddenly lunging forward, one of the tentacles lashed out striking Alex on the chest and making him stumble back. It was only the fact that he was standing next to the wall that stopped him from falling over. The vertical slash of its mouth opened, revealing those sharp teeth again as it made a sound that was part hiss, part screech.

Looking down at himself as white hot pain exploded across his chest, he saw that the front of his t-shirt had been torn apart. Alex felt panic and terror in equal measures, as blood soaked into the remaining tattered material of his top at an alarming rate.

"Please...please don't..." he pleaded through trembling lips, beginning to cry.

Holding out a shaking arm to the creature, he raised his palm to show he meant the thing no harm. But it only struck again, lashing out and tearing a deep gash across Alex's forearm.

Screaming in fear and pain, Alex cradled the injured arm against his body. Blood pumped freely from the wound, splattering unnoticed around his feet.

"Help!" he screamed at the top of his lungs to anyone who might hear his plea as the creature moved closer.

All this had to be a terrible mistake, any minute now a doorway will appear and he would be rescued, he thought desperately. No doorway appeared and no one came to his aid.

At an almost leisurely pace the beast reached out. Curling a tentacle around Alex's knees, it slowly tightened its grip on him. Alex lost his balance, falling to the floor in a heap.

The expressionless, black eyes stared down at him as the pressure increased, crushing his knees together painfully. With an almighty tug he was suddenly released. The creature moved back a few feet, placed its two front limbs on the floor and paused. Remaining motionless it appeared to study Alex, the dead, black eyes boring into him.

Lying on his back and supported on both elbows, Alex tried to push himself further away from his attacker, but he didn't seem to be able to move. It wasn't until he looked down at his legs that he saw the reason why. At first he couldn't quite grasp what he was seeing.

His legs from the knees down were gone!

The shredded tatters of his pyjamas ended abruptly at the bottom of his thighs, just in front of him lay the other two halves of his legs. The reality of what had been done to him was difficult to comprehend. He looked on in an almost detached state of astonishment as blood spurted from the ragged ends of what were once his knees. A warm red puddle quickly formed around him, growing larger with each second.

Pain, more excruciating than anything he'd previously felt suddenly exploded with such a force that everything was instantly pushed from his mind, only agony existed. Alex could hear someone screaming, the echoes ringing in his ears seemed to come from some distant place. On some deeper level he knew those tortured sounds were coming from him.

As quickly as the agony surged through him it began to ebb. The only feeling now, was of a dull throbbing ache from his mutilated legs. Awareness of his surroundings returned as the searing pain slowly released him from its firm grip. Shivering uncontrollably on the cold floor, he struggled to open his eyes and look for the creature. It wasn't anywhere to be seen, and Alex was once again alone.

He closed his eyes warily as the brightness of the room faded, giving into the tiredness that swept over him. The light dimmed even further, and a feeling of calm descended. There was no pain anymore, just a sense of relief that this nightmare was over. But also sadness at the knowledge that he was never going to see his family again. He breathed a last sigh as the darkness took him into its welcoming embrace.

### Four

Confusion hit Alex almost like a physical blow. The sensations surging through his bewildered mind left him struggling for breath. Lying on his back he tried desperately to make sense of the light, sound and smells that assailed him.

What is this?

Am I dead?

"About time" a familiar voice spoke from directly above him "I didn't think you were ever going to wake up."

Multiple feelings flooded through Alex as Paul's smiling face appeared over him. The main feeling being one of relief at still being alive. Interspersed with the mixture of emotions was an overriding depression that came from the realisation that he was still in this waking nightmare.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Paul said as he helped him sit up.

A wave of faintness washed over him. The firm steadying grip of Paul's hands on his shoulders, helped support him as he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply and waited for the sensation to pass.

Straightening up, Alex took a long mental breath before looking down at his legs.

Amazingly they were whole.

Hesitantly he reached out, touching first one leg then the other, trying to reassure himself that he wasn't seeing things.

Maybe in his exhausted state he'd imagined the whole thing. It was all a little unbelievable to say the least, but then he saw the irrefutable evidence. Circling each knee were livid scars where his lower legs had been reattached. Gingerly lifting one leg, he unconsciously winced in expectation of the pain he felt sure he was going to feel. Only to sigh with relief when it moved without the slightest twinge. On closer inspection he saw that not only were his legs miraculously repaired, but that his whole body had changed.

His once lanky limbs were now solid looking. Slender muscles flexed and rippled with each movement. Examining the healed scars on his legs and forearm, Alex slowly began to understand how Paul had received all those marks on his body. How many times had Paul had to endure what happened to him, thought Alex with a sinking feeling.

His pyjama bottoms and t-shirt were now gone, replaced by garments similar to Paul's. Although compared to all the other changes that had happened to him, this did seem a very minor fact.

Looking back at Paul, Alex was filled with so many questions he didn't know quite where to begin.

"Like I said before, they conduct experiments on us, when they put us back together, they make a few improvements" Paul said as if reading Alex's mind.

Now that Alex had finally looked up all those unanswered questions evaporated. Becoming aware now of the room and it's many different inhabitants and the reason for the constant background noise. There were creatures everywhere, some bunched together in small groups, others on their own. A couple, like Alex, were sitting on the few shelf beds scattered around the room's walls, while even more were sat on the floor.

Alex's eyes were drawn to one in particular. The sheer size of it dominated the room. Its hulking ape-like body was covered from head to toe in reddish brown fur. The creature had a stooped posture, mainly because it was taller than the room's considerably high ceiling. The similarity to an ape though, finished with its huge head, nearly half the size of its body.

Reptilian eyes stared out from the centre of the face, filled with undisguised malevolence; they seemed far too small for something so big. With large deep set nostrils and tiny holes in the side of its head (presumably ears), the rest of its features were made up of a hugely elongated lower jaw with a wide drooling mouth situated near the bottom. The whole face was covered in the same shaggy fur that coated the rest of its body.

Tearing his eyes away from this monstrosity with great difficulty, Alex looked around at the other things sharing the room. There were so many creatures, so many different forms. Some almost funny, some quite repugnant and others that were downright scary. The variety of shapes and sizes seemed never ending. Large, fat grub-like beings, stubby limbed and bulgy eyed, ranging to creatures at the other end of the scale, so skinny they looked as if their bodies were made of flexible rods.

With most of the beings, Alex was able to roughly identify what body parts were what. Arms and legs, eyes or mouth, but with a few of them he was left at an absolute loss.

One such individual was just a mass of green multi jointed skeletal limbs, all joined together at its centre by a solid lump of flesh. To Alex it looked as if the thing possessed no sensory organs whatsoever.

The only redeeming thing about all this was the fact that the red tentacle monster who had attacked him before was nowhere to be seen.

"It takes a bit of getting used to," Paul said sitting down next to him "if it's any consolation, you're coping better than I did when I came round from my first stint in the combat room and ended up in here."

"I was practically climbing the walls," he continued when Alex said nothing "I'm pretty sure I went a little crazy..."

Turning to look at Paul "I don't know if I can take much more of this" Alex said miserably with a slight crack in his voice, "I just want to go home."

"You're stronger than you think son," Paul said putting his arm around Alex's shoulders, holding him in a fatherly way, "there's a toughness in you, I saw it the first time we met. You just have to believe in yourself, survive and who knows, you might see home again, anything's possible."

"But why are they doing this to us?" Alex could hear the pleading quality in his voice as he spoke.

"I don't know Alex. I used to think it was for their entertainment, now I'm not so sure... there seems to be

some system to all this, they're looking for something, though I don't know what," Paul shrugged and smiled sadly "I don't suppose the scientists back home were in the habit of trying to explain anything to their lab rats either."

"Why..." Alex stopped as a shadow fell across him.

Looking up he was confronted by the immense bulk of the gigantic fur covered beast. It's strange, angry eyes, locked onto him as it towered over him. Saliva dripped from the creature's mouth, glistening in the matted hair of its chin as it made a couple of low guttural sounds.

"Whoa there big fella, everything's fine" Paul stood, holding his hands up, his palms out in a gesture of peace.

The beast grunted again, louder this time, raised one of its massive arms and waved in Alex's direction.

"What's it...?" Alex started, but was immediately shushed by Paul.

Alex started to feel uneasy as the situation began to feel more serious.

"Whatever happens, don't move!" Paul whispered, not turning from the monstrous wall of fur.

Still holding his hands out, Paul stepped in front of Alex, putting himself directly between him and the creature as it rapidly became more aggressive.

The room went quiet.

All eyes were now focused on Alex, Paul and the mountainous beast.

"I'm sure we can sort this out," Paul said in a soothing tone.

With a furious roar the creature swung its huge arm smashing it into Paul's head, slamming him to the floor. Climbing back up, stumbling slightly as blood flowed freely from a cut on his forehead, he once again put himself in front of Alex.

The now enraged monster swung again, but missed as Paul ducked and fast as lightning sprang upwards throwing a powerful right hook. Following quickly with a left jab, both punches connecting solidly in its face with loud ringing smacks that echoed around the silent room. This time the roar was deafening.

Lunging forwards, Paul's next strike glanced harmlessly off its huge arm as it grabbed hold of his waist. Its large hand fitting easily around Paul as it effortlessly lifted him off the floor. Screaming in agony, Paul dangled in mid-air, the fingers holding him visibly tightening. The creature looked on without the slightest flicker of emotion as Paul's agonised screams weakened, becoming strangled coughs, each one coating his chin and neck in blood.

Alex felt totally helpless, Paul was literally being crushed in the vice-like grip. What could he possibly do against such an adversary? He sat where he was, frozen with fear, tears of frustration in his eyes. Watching impotently as this person he'd only met a day or so ago, was now paying a very heavy price for protecting him.

With an almost casual toss, Paul was thrown across the room, landing on top of one of the watching crowd. The startled bystander shrieked indignantly, pushing Paul away with its segmented earthworm-like body. Its large oval eyes blinked rapidly as a constant stream of gibber fell from its lipless mouth. Scurrying sideways, the creature's bloated body moved remarkable fast on its many spindly limbs, which looked closer to the roots of a tree than legs.

No sooner was Paul back on his feet, than he limped straight over to Alex. Blood soaked, breathing hard and in obvious pain, once again he stood between the hulking beast and Alex.

Its odd eyes flicked from Alex to Paul before letting out a low grunt and turning with a lumbering slowness, shuffled away. All the occupants of the room gave the furry giant a wide berth as it moved back to where Alex had first set eyes on it.

One of the rod thin creatures not quick enough to get out of the thing's way was swatted viciously aside. Landing in a crumpled heap in the corner of the room, where it lay unmoving. Settling itself down the beast turned to stare fixedly at Alex.

Paul almost collapsed as he sat down beside Alex. Leaning over he spat blood onto the floor, the cut on his forehead had stopped bleeding and his breathing had eased.

"You alright?" Alex asked, unable to think of anything better to say, or how to express his gratitude for what Paul had just done for him.

Laughing shakily, he nodded "I'm fine" he said leaning back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Why... why did it do that?"

"Fur Ball likes everyone to know who's the boss in here," Paul said, his eyes still closed as he talked, "you can't let him walk all over you, but then again you shouldn't antagonise him too much either."

"Besides, I think he's as scared as all these other things in here are, it's probably just his way of coping with the situation."

There were so many questions Alex wanted to ask, but he could see Paul was exhausted, so let him rest. Instead he looked around again at the multitude of oddities. The earlier incident seemed to have already been forgotten. The atmosphere felt lighter and the noise level rose as everyone went back to whatever it was they were previously doing before the interruption. Careful not to look in the furry Goliath's direction, he gazed at the strange crowd and considering how his life had been turned on its head. Fantasy had become fact, make-believe now real, he wondered if his life could get any weirder, and would he be able to handle it if it did?

### Five

Time stood still as Paul dozed beside him. None of the others in the room approached, or for that matter appeared to have any interest in him. Even the huge monster, rather than watching Alex, looked more concerned with scratching random parts of itself.

He began to think about the predicament he'd found himself in, his reattached legs, the healed wounds, the new larger muscles that now covered his frame. It was enough to make Alex's head spin and until Paul was awake there wouldn't be any more answers.

Inevitably his thoughts turned to family, what would his mum and dad be doing at this very moment? What would they think had happened to him? His sudden disappearance in the middle of the night might make them believe he'd run away. He'd give anything to be at back at home right now, he'd even welcome the annoying intrusions into his room by his younger sister Claire. Just the thought of home brought him to the brink of tears.

"We should have been called in by now," Paul's voice interrupted his contemplations. Turning towards him,

Alex was surprised to see how much better he now looked, even after such a small rest. Apart from the dried blood on his face and clothes he seemed pretty much back to normal, the cut on his forehead was now a small scar.

The fact that the gash on Paul's head looked as if it had been healing for weeks and not an hour or so was something Alex no longer even thought twice about. Paul's super-fast healing was the very least of his worries.

Puzzled, as well as feeling a little uneasy by Paul's statement, "What do you mean, called in by now?" he asked.

"This is where we gather before going on to the combat areas," he explained, massaging the back of his neck with a hand and rolling his shoulders.

"Combat areas...?" Alex felt an uneasiness begin to grow at mention of what was obviously something that involved fighting.

"I think you know what I'm on about, you've had a taste of it already," Paul said, indicating the scars on Alex's legs "we fight until only one is left standing. It's like they're pitting us against each other, in some kind of bizarre experiment."

"But I don't know how to fight..." Alex worriedly began to protest, only to be interrupted by a slow pulsing beat.

The sound didn't have one definite source, but came from everywhere at once. As well as hearing the low frequency, he also felt it vibrating rhythmically though his body.

"Here we go," Paul said standing up.

It looked as if every other being, whether it walked, crawled or slid, also began to ready themselves. Alex could almost feel the sudden tension in the air.

"You must fight Alex, there's no other way" Paul shouted over the pulsing noise as it grew faster and louder.

"I can't, I'll just have to take another beating," Alex shouted back, resigned at the prospect.

"No! No Alex you must fight!" Paul's face was full of alarm, grabbing him by the arms with a grip so hard that Alex winced. "This won't be like the first time, from now on you fight, you won't get a second chance!"

Before Alex had time to think about what Paul had just said the resonating beat became one long continual tone. And around the room, doorways suddenly materialized.

As if by a silent command, the various beings began going through. After doing so the opening would disappear, becoming solid wall again, only for the doorway to reappear seconds later with no one in sight.

Paul released his grip on Alex's arms and placing a hand on the boy's back, guided him to a free doorway.

"How do you know it's the right one?" Alex asked slightly panicked, it looked as if there was no difference between this entrance and all the others.

"Doesn't matter which one, you'll end up where they want you" patting Alex on the back. "Good luck!" he shouted before turning and walking through the open doorway next to him.

With a feeling of trepidation, Alex stepped into the waiting corridor. The wall solidifying instantly behind him, leaving him with little choice other than to start walking.

The last time he'd been in surroundings like these he'd had a guide, but as the corridor only went in one direction, he simple walked that way.

It was only a matter of seconds before an opening appeared in a nearby wall. Assuming it was meant for him, he walked through it.

His heart sank as he once again found himself in a similar, large, round room. The familiar white walls and domed ceiling brought back painful memories, full of fear, at what had only recently happened to him in just such a place as this.

Alex watched with a sinking feeling as an entrance opened in one of the far walls, his legs instantly growing weak.

His first reaction to what slid through the breach was one of pure revulsion. It looked like a giant slug. Twice the size of a grown man, its mottled brown skin glistened with oozing slime. He couldn't recall seeing it in the other room, but with all those other strange things in there it was no surprise that he might have missed one or two.

Alex was unable to tell if it had eyes, the only discernible feature being a small opening at the top of its body, which may or may not have been a mouth. The upper end of the alien, presumably its head, rose up and twitched back and forth until it obviously detected Alex's presence. Then with slow undulating movements, it began to make its way towards him, leaving behind a long trail of slime.

Although his primal feelings were of fear and disgust at the sight of yet another abomination, especially one as vile as this, the stirrings of a new emotion began to surface in him.

Anger!

Angry at the bewildering and frightening situations he had to face. The helplessness he'd felt at everything that

was happening now and had been done to him in these last few terrifying days. But most of all, he felt an almost overwhelming anger at being ripped away from his family and home.

Bubbling up inside him, the anger quickly turned to rage. Without thinking Alex ran at the advancing creature. For the first time in what felt like ages, the ever present fear was gone, replaced by an uncontrollable animal fury.

Summoning all the sudden pent up aggression into the one movement, he lashed out with his foot. Alex was a little taken back at how much force he was able to deliver in that one kick. The giant slug looked as though it had literally been launched into the air. It hit the wall with a sickening thud, and as it slid to the floor, it left behind dripping patches of slime.

Looking down at himself, Alex experimentally flexed his arms, the new sleek muscles that covered his body responding visibly. An unfamiliar feeling of strength flowed through him. This sensation, mixing with the maddening rage and the already growing feeling of his body's new power, made him feel a tremendous sense of invincibility.

It crossed his mind that not only had these stalk eyed aliens tampered with his body, maybe they'd also messed with his mind.

Although the creature had a large gash in its side, from where Alex's kick had landed, it appeared to have recovered enough to try and reach him again. Orange liquid ran from the wound in streams, filling the air with a foul stench.

Rushing in to attack the gross animal, he was taken completely by surprise as it whipped its hindquarters at him in such a rapid movement, that it was practically a blur.

Just as the tail end connected with him, foot long spikes emerged, tearing across Alex's side, ripping great gouges. Stumbling away, he slipped in his own blood as it gushed down his body, quickly saturating his shorts and pooling onto the floor around him. One look down at himself told him all he needed to know about how badly he was hurt. A couple of long lengths of pink ropey things slid from the ripped and bloody openings.

Grabbing his side, he tried to hold in the rest of what he shockingly realised must be his intestines. Pain blasted through him, but the burning wild fury let him focus on what was important. He remembered Paul's words, there were no second chances, and only one would make it out of this room. It was all or nothing now, feeling faintness begin to dull the edges of his mind, Alex made his move.

Nearly falling as an escaped loop of intestine got caught under one of his feet. He continued determinedly onwards, staying upright only through sheer will power, as an eruption of fiery agony racked his body.

Diving onto the thing's back, he smashed the fist of his free arm (the one not holding onto his innards) straight into the stinking wound, driving it forwards with all the strength he could muster. As his arm sank into the hot slippery innards, the creature let out a piecing screech and bucked violently. Lashing out again with its tail it caught Alex squarely in the back of both legs. He heard the sound of a bone crack as the spikes tore into him. It was now his turn to scream as the blinding pain swept through his already tortured body.

The floor around them was now awash with a mixture of red and orange, as both lost vital body fluids. Feeling weaker by the second, the hot coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. Coughing hard, spraying rich red blood over the monster's back, he knew he wouldn't last much longer.

With a panicky awareness that time was quickly running out, he thrust the hand that until now had been holding his torn side together into the creature's wound. Now that both hands were inside, he pushed harder forcing them in deeper. Paying no attention as his intestines spilled out onto the floor, concentrating only on his hands as they final found a large oval organ. Grabbing onto it he squeezed with everything he had left, feeling his fingers sink into the softness, he crushed it utterly.

The giant slug convulsed once, twice and then simply stopped. It happened so fast that Alex carried on struggling, not realising that it was all over. When he finally saw that the thing was indeed dead, he almost sobbed with relief.

Pulling his arms from it, he tried to crawl away, but his legs were still pinned to the floor by its spiked tail.

Unable to move he lay down in the mess that surrounded him, too exhausted now to care about the state of his ruined body. As rage that had fuelled him dissipated and the pain lessened, becoming somehow distant, he was left with a strange feeling of tranquillity.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a doorway appear and something entered the room.

At first he was too tired to focus on the room's new occupant. It was only when it moved into his field of vision that he recognised it.

Staring in shocked disbelief and fear, the red tentacle horror stood before him. Looking down at him with those familiar unreadable dead black eyes, it reared up on its hindquarters and reached out towards him with two large tentacles.

### Six

The first tentacle slid under his legs, encircling both knees. The second eased beneath Alex's shoulders, wrapping around his upper body, pinning each of his arms firmly against his side.

Not having the energy, strength or even the will to fight back, Alex closed his eyes, resigned now to the inevitable.

More tentacles pushed underneath him until he was totally immobilised. Then with a surprising gentleness, Alex felt himself being lifted.

Lying in the red horror's embrace he held his breath, waiting for the end, hoping it would be quick and the pain wouldn't last long.

Only instead of being torn apart Alex felt only a small tugging sensation. Opening his eyes, he watched as the beast pulled at the slug's spiked tail, slowly freeing his impaled legs. The fresh wave of pain was mercifully cut short as he blacked out.

Everything that happened after felt dreamlike, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, just hazy glimpses and confusing images. He had vague recollections of being carried through corridors by the monster, another white room, this one with a floating platform at its centre, on which he was placed. A number of the strange, silent stalk eyed aliens, coming and going throughout.

There were distant recollections of pain and the feeling of something poking inside his head. Although poking wasn't really how it felt, it was more like an awareness of something or someone touching his mind. This intrusion into the most private part of himself, left him feeling more vulnerable than at any other time since this this whole nightmare had begun.

Eventually he must have fallen asleep as he could remember little else after that. When finally he did wake, he felt physically rested, although his mind burned with the violation, (either imaged or real), it had just endured. All this only added to the turmoil of his thoughts, as he brooded on the actions he'd been forced to take against the slug beast.

For quite some time he lay on the floating bed and stared up at the white ceiling. As far as Alex could tell, he was still in the same room with which he'd had all those fuzzy visions of, but he wasn't certain.

Realising that the torn, blood stained top had been replaced with a fresh new one. He pushing an exploratory hand underneath and wasn't overly surprised to find ridges of healed scar tissue running down his side.

Sitting up, he gave his legs a hasty examination, the red circular indentations (now fully healed scar tissue) where the spikes had been, hardly held his interest at all.

If someone had told him how indifferent he would be about receiving such horrendous scars, he would have laughed in their faces, but now he barely gave these marks a second thought. Maybe this nonchalant attitude was due to the amount of stress he'd been under or maybe it was the fact of being subjected to living in these constantly lit conditions. He didn't know. One thing he did know for sure was that he'd have been hard pressed to even hazard a guess as to how long he'd spent in this hellish nightmare and with each passing moment he did spend in it his old life was beginning to feel more and more distant.

Getting off the bed, Alex looked at the empty room, his eyes roaming the walls hoping to see an opening, but only solid white surfaces stared back. He desperately wanted company, the recent events weighed heavily on him as he paced back and forth. Just to see Paul, the comfort he got from being in the other man's company, made him feel at least a little safe. No matter how much he tried not to, his thoughts kept returning to the moment when he'd crushed that poor creature's insides, the moment when he'd killed it.

Even repeatedly telling himself it wasn't his fault, it was either me or him, didn't help. The scene kept replaying itself over and over. He couldn't get those last few, final seconds out of his head. He really needed Paul's reassurances, to talk to him before the growing remorse he felt, engulfed him totally.

Anger began to build inside him, frustration at the lack of control over even the simplest things made him want to break something. All he wanted was to see Paul, was that so much to ask?

Turning to the nearest wall, Alex walked towards it with the intention of giving it a hefty kick. Not really thinking it through, he'd probably end up hurting his foot, but so what. He just wanted to lash out at something.

There was a sharp cracking noise and several large fissures appeared in the wall exactly where Alex was about to kick it. Alex stopped and looking at the damage in shocked surprise. Slowly he moved closer and reached out to touch the crumbling surface, stepping back as bits of wall fell to the floor around his feet.

It looked as if it had been hit by a wrecking ball.

What on earth was going on here?

The damage had happened right where Alex had planned to strike it with his foot. If he didn't know any better; it would almost have looked as if he'd damaged the wall with only the power of his thoughts.

He had to get a grip, start thinking like that and it wouldn't be long before he lost it for good. Pacing the room again he tried to clear his head, but each time he saw that mess, he couldn't help but think about the possibilities.

These beings had altered his body so that he didn't need food or water. They'd made him stronger and faster, healed wounds that probably should have killed him. So why not alter his brain, he recalled the probing of his mind earlier, maybe...

Picking a part of the wall away from the damaged one and feeling just a little sheepish, Alex took up a boxer's stance or one as close to it as he could. Feeling slightly silly as well as a little curious, threw an imaginary punch at the wall. A football sized dent smashed into the wall, just where he'd envisioned the blow would land.

Alex did something he thought not possible here, he laughed out loud. With everything that had happened to him, everything he'd been through, this one thing made his head spin, he felt giddy with amazement.

Laughing harder, he threw punch after pretend punch. As each mental fist hit, an impact crater would appear, soon the wall was a mass of cracks.

Only slightly out of breath, Alex stopped. If he could damage the wall with just the thought of using his fists, maybe he could bring the whole thing down by imagining something bigger, something like a missile. He concentrated hard on creating an image of a military weapon, the type of thing he'd seen on films and television. Once happy with the object pictured in his mind, he visualised it speeding at tremendous velocity towards the wall.

The thunderous explosion as the phantom missile hit, nearly knocked him off his feet. The air was suddenly filled with a dense cloud of dust, which slowly settled to reveal a rubble strewn corridor. The wall had been totally obliterated.

Alex waved at the last dregs of dust, laughing even harder. Maybe his mind had snapped under the stress of the last few days. How on earth could something like this be real? Was he actually stood right here or was he sat in the corner of some room in an insane asylum, staring into space and dribbling.

When it came down to it, Alex didn't care. If he'd gone mad then so be it, this was the most exhilarating thing that he'd ever experienced.

No alarm bell rang out. He looked out into the corridor expecting to hear the sound of running feet, rushing to the disturbance, but all was quiet.

Not entirely sure whether his sanity was still intact, he stepped over the rubble, through the large hole in the wall and out of the room. Turning to look first one way then the other, he tried to decide what to do next. The only plan he could think of was to find Paul. With no real clue as to where he might be, he chose to go right, for no other reason than it was less clogged with debris from the fallen wall. Striding off down the brightly lit corridor it was like walking on air. Marvelling at his newly acquired talent, he felt both invincible and powerful.

If this wasn't just a figment of his over stretched mind, then the aliens running this whole show had better watch out, they were going to be in for a big surprise.

Walking through hallway after featureless hallway, aimlessly turning left and right, Alex began to feel a little frustrated, having no idea where he was or where he was going.

This was hopeless, how was he ever going to find Paul? Stopping at yet another junction and wondering what route to take next in this confusing maze, he heard a noise.

Before there was a chance to back up or hide, two stalk eyed aliens rounded the corner and stopped in front of him. They both stared straight at Alex; he couldn't tell if they were surprised, alarmed or angry, as their features portrayed no emotion.

A deafening roar filled the air as a huge reddish brown fur covered hand swept out from behind the two stationary figures, smashing them against the far wall, where they fell in a heap like rag dolls. The owner of the massive hand lumbered around the corner and into Alex's view.

It was the gigantic beast that Paul had protected him from only a short while ago. Barely enough room for its mountainous frame in the confined space, it nevertheless rushed towards Alex. Pushing the fear that threatened to paralyse him deep down, while at the same time trying to think of an idea to stop this raging thing, seemed an impossible task.

Taking two faltering steps backwards, inspiration struck - a wall! He quickly envisioned a wall in between him and the beast. Not knowing if this would work, Alex let out a relieved breath when the creature's frenzied charge was halted with a bone crunching suddenness, as it slammed into the invisible barrier.

At first it stood still, then briskly shaking itself, began to rain blow after furious blow against the unseen obstacle. Panting hard it eventually stopped and stared at Alex with its strange hate filled eyes.

Now that he had some breathing space, an idea began to surface, as to how he could put this thing out of action for a while.

Visualising another wall behind the beast, Alex imagined this other wall moving towards the first one, creating a large vice.

It looked almost comical, as the huge monster's body flattened in the seemingly thin air, and started to be squeezed between the two opposing invisible surfaces. Struggling uselessly, both its arms and legs were quickly pinned tightly against its furry body. Roars of fury soon turned to animal screams of pain as the sound of cracking bones mixed with its tormented agonised cries. Watching the beast suffer Alex was torn between two strong feelings, the first being a sense of rightful justice for the beating it had inflicted on Paul, but he also felt an overriding shame at what he was now doing to it.

Alex felt hardly any strain, as he concentrated on maintaining and manipulating the imaginary walls. It felt no more taxing than the thought put into choosing which chocolate bar to have at the local corner shop. It certainly was an odd feeling to be able to wield this sort of power so effortlessly.

The creature had stopped screaming and was now just wheezing, its eyes closed, the crushed matted fur around its mouth soaked in drool as it repeatedly gasped.

Sure it was no longer a threat, Alex stopped thinking of the barriers, releasing it from the invisible vice. Like a mighty felled tree, it crashed to the ground. Alex stepped back just in case it wasn't totally out, but the only movement was the rise and fall of its chest and the sound of its laboured breathing.

The two aliens who'd been thrown against the wall earlier had now picked themselves up and were staring intently at Alex. They made no move towards him, even stepping backwards when he turned to look at them.

Three more of their kind came round the corner, although they too appeared wary of him as they also stopped and stared at him from a respectful distance.

The one in the middle of the new arrivals wore the white hospital style uniform Alex remembered from his first encounter with these beings. Guessing that this individual must be a leader of some sort, he turned towards it.

Moving away from the other two, the white clad alien gestured for Alex to follow. The two remaining aliens cautiously went over to the fallen mountain of fur, giving Alex a wide berth as they passed.

Having no idea where he was, it probably wouldn't hurt to at least see where this being was trying to lead him.

Feeling secure in the knowledge that this new found power was more than enough to protect him. He followed behind the alien as it walked down the corridor with its strange bouncing gait.

After only a couple of minutes it halted and a doorway opened in the wall, a wave of its hand clearly indicating for Alex to go through.

It was like stepping out into a furnace. The sudden brightness hurt his eyes, even squinting and shielding them had little effect. Straining to see, the surroundings slowly came into focus. Through watering and stinging eyes, he realised what he was seeing.

Before him lay a vast strange landscape, he was outside.

### Seven

As Alex's eyes slowly adjusted to the harsh brightness, more and more of the weird scenery became visible.

He could see rolling sand dunes, similar to the deserts back on earth, extending out as far as the horizon. Dotted here and there were great monoliths of grey rock. Rising to staggering heights, the towering stones looked torn and blasted by the fierce sand storms he could see gusting away in the distance. Twisted into eerily tortured shapes, their surfaces sparkled in the scorching light, as the sun reflected off the veins of a crystal-like deposit running down their sides.

The only vegetation to be seen was small parched looking bushes, clinging in sparse lumps around the bottoms of the massive rocks, their dark brown wrinkled leaves looked dry and withered.

Visible for only short lengths of time when the sand choked winds periodically eased. He was able to make out large white domes nestled amongst the huge rugged boulders.

Turning around, Alex looked at the curved white wall of the building he'd just stepped out of. Although not able to see the whole of it, he saw enough to know it had to be dome shaped, just like the other ones. There were no other buildings, so these white structures had to be their equivalent of houses back on earth.

Shielding his eyes as best he could and glancing briefly at the incredibly pale blue sky, Alex suddenly understood why it was so bright. There were two suns.

He was just about to look again when a voice interrupted.

"The light will cause damage to your eyes."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, it was low and high at the same time, resonating through him, making every hair on his body stand on end.

Swivelling round, Alex stared at the alien. It was still inside the doorway, exactly where it'd stopped when he'd passed it a few moments ago.

"W what...?" Alex stammered, looking straight at the motionless being, he'd definitely heard a voice, could the alien have spoken, it had no mouth, but he was sure someone had said something "Was that you?"

"The light from the suns, if looked at directly, will damage your eyes."

This time the voice sounded more focused, it no longer came from all around him, the acoustics of the low and high pitches merged becoming one even tone. Now that the voice was more concentrated, Alex realised that he hadn't heard it with his ears. It was inside his head.

Standing there with his back towards a landscape from another world, facing an alien who was talking to him by thought alone, Alex was amazed at how well he was dealing with everything.

It really couldn't get any more bizarre than this, he kept telling himself. Aliens, a new world, strange powers, what could possibly happen next? Alex felt comforted in the knowledge that with just one thought he could crush this being and anyone else who stood in his way.

Then an alarming thought suddenly crossed his mind, what if this alien could read his mind as well as communicate.

Quickly he conjured up the image of a long spear, tipped with a wickedly sharp point. As soon as the picture was fully formed, Alex aimed it directly at the being's head. There was no reaction, even when Alex mentally drew back in readiness to throw. Satisfied Alex wiped the spear from his mind.

"How can I understand you?" he asked, still trying to get his head round the idea of talking to a being from another world.

"We have had dealings with your species for many of your life spans," it explained in a very matter of fact manner.

After a pause to marshal his thoughts and try and think of something to ask it, Alex pressed on.

"Why am I here?" It was the only really relevant question he could think of to ask, that and the obvious one, "And when am I going home?"

Stepping out into the blazing sunshine and standing beside him, the protruding eyes staring intently at Alex's face.

"We regret what you have had to endure, by nature we are a peaceful race. What we do, we are forced to do," the voice inside Alex's head explained, sounding quite level now, but with no real discernible accent. It turned its strange head to look out at the dunes "we are no freer than you. If we do not comply... the consequences for us will be dire."

"You didn't answer my question, why me, why am I here?"

Turning back to face Alex, the alien took a few seconds before speaking.

"Our task is to provide a full spectrum of suitable life forms." Turning away again it waved a long fingered hand at the white domes sprinkled around the dunes. "Each of these contain competitors selected from all of the known star systems, including your own. The few who attain a high enough standard will be entered into... the games."

The alien seemed to be deliberately evasive, not giving him the answers he so desperately wanted. Now it had gone off at a tangent and was talking about games.

"I know you must have many questions, but there is one I wish to ask you."

Alex was starting to feel quite exasperated. He wasn't getting anywhere, so with an irritated shrug he nodded his head in acquiescence.

"Will you help us?"

"Help you!" he shouted "after everything you've done to me?"

The alien seemingly unaffected by Alex's sudden outburst, continued to stand and stare at him.

"I understand your reluctance. It was not by our choice that you were treated as you were." The aliens eyes stayed fixed on Alex, its disembodied voice took on a pleading quality "only by helping us will you in turn help yourself and see your home again."

"And Paul?"

"If you succeed in helping us, then all this stops." Again it waved it's hand at the dome buildings behind Alex "all will be returned to where they belong, including the other one of your species... Paul."

Should he help these aliens? With his strange new abilities, another option would be to simply overpower these creatures and force them to send him and Paul home. But from what this being said, they appeared to be in a similar situation to him. That was if it was telling the truth. The lack of facial expressions made judging whether or not he was being lied to quite difficult.

"What if I refuse?" Alex asked quietly.

Tilting its head the alien looked upwards "Whether you refuse or not, your destiny is already out of our hands."

Following its gaze, Alex could just make out the hazy outline of a dark object far above them in the bright sky.

"Your transport is here."

Alex decided enough was enough; the time for others controlling his destiny was over. With no intention of taking a trip anywhere other than home, he began to visualise another invisible wall. Planning to imprison the alien just like he had the fur monster, he imagined the wall moving, pushing the being backwards.

Nothing happened.

Everything became blurred as his vision doubled and trebled. A stomach churning dizziness made him stumble backwards and he collapsed as his surroundings see-sawed violently.

Fighting to regain control, Alex strained to focus on the figure standing over him and was only just able to make out the small white box it held in its hand. With a sinking feeling he realised it was the same type of instrument used on him before.

Desperately he tried to concentrate and create something to defend himself with. It felt like his thoughts had turned to mush, becoming so sluggish that it was as if his very mind was coated in syrup.

A droning noise filled Alex's ears. Turning his head toward the sound, Alex was able to see the object more clearly as it descended, settling not far from where he lay.

It was roughly the size of a large lorry, lozenge shape, tapered at one end, which gave it the appearance of a horizontal tear-drop.

What Alex presumed to be a space craft, was the colour of gun metal. Its surface was totally smooth with no windows. It looked seamless.

Two sets of hands suddenly grabbed Alex by the arms and hauled him to his feet. He'd been so engrossed with the craft that he hadn't even noticed the other two aliens appearance until they'd grasped him. He would have fallen back down in an untidy heap if it wasn't for them supporting his weakened body.

Unable to fight back, the two aliens half carried and half dragged him to the waiting vehicle. With his mind so muddled, Alex barely registered that a hatchway had opened in its sleek grey side and with hardly a moments pause, he found himself inside its cool, dim interior

### Eight

Alex watched from inside the craft as the opening closed. It appeared to work in much the same way as the doorways in the dome building had. The instant it was sealed, he felt immediately better, his stomach settled and the disorientation slowly evaporated.

Getting up from where they'd unceremoniously dumped him, he took his time looking round at his new surroundings. The only things visible in the dim light of the small compartment were the backs of two black contoured chairs. Apart from these, there seemed to be little else, other than smooth, plain, grey, curved walls.

Alex felt a rhythmic throbbing sensation through the floor. At the same time the walls at the front of the craft started to change colour, turning from dull grey to a misty white. With a rippling wave effect the mistiness cleared leaving nothing. The front section disappeared, leaving only the two chairs hovering unsupported in mid-air.

Making his way to the edge of where the craft apparently ended and the unrestricted view of the dunes began. Alex tentatively reached out, placing his hand where there should have been a wall. Although there appeared to be nothing but thin air, Alex could feel a cool, solid surface under his palm.

Looking back out again at the alien world, he could only assume that whatever material this craft was made of, its surfaces were capable of altering to become

transparent.

"Would you like to take a seat?" A soft female voice spoke, making him jump.

Now closer to the two suspended chairs, he realised one of them was occupied. The reason he'd not seen this before was because the back of the chair completely hid the figure's small frame.

Stepping forwards to get a better look at the owner of the voice, Alex gingerly placed his foot into the nothingness. He knew the floor was there, even if his eyes told him different. It was an odd feeling, his foot being planted firmly on a solid surface, but at the same time, it looked as if it was floating in the air. Now more confident that there definitely was something under his foot, he took another step forwards, and another, until he was able to see the owner of the voice.

His first impression was that this being was female. Even in her current seated position, her feminine curves could clearly be seen through the tight fitting one-piece garment. Mainly pale red, only the ankle high boots were of a slightly darker shade. But it was the face more than anything that implied the fairer sex.

With a resemblance closest to that of a fairy or pixie. Alex couldn't help but stare at the large slightly oriental blue eyes, as they in turn gazed intently back at him. With high wide cheek bones narrowing to a small pointed chin. The whole image of a storybook fantasy figure was topped off with small triangular goat-like ears poking out from a mass of curly black hair. Her skin, as Alex was now pretty confident this being was a she, was blemish free, practically glowing in the bright light.

"Would you like to take a seat?" she repeated in that soft, strangely foreign sounding accent he'd heard only a few moments ago.

Whether it was because she was female or the fact that she exhibited no signs of malice, Alex felt immediately at ease in her presence.

Doing as he was told, he nearly jumped back up again when the chair started moving underneath him. It quickly became clear that it was moulding itself to the contours of his body and within a second or two Alex felt so comfortable he couldn't help but relax.

Holographic symbols and diagrams materialized directly in front of the female alien. Reaching out, she began systematically touching the jumble of weird floating figures.

Watching the swift delicate movements of her hand, he saw that she only had three slender fingers. Appearing to be totally absorbed in what she was doing, he felt safe sneaking another longer look at her face, although he was soon distracted when the craft began to move.

It felt very disconcerting, sitting on a chair in what looked like thin air as the ground quickly dropped away. With the unobstructed view all around him, Alex's stomach rolled as the dunes retreated to be replaced by blue sky. The feeling of vertigo increased as the sky disappeared and the blackness of space surrounded him.

Inside the craft there wasn't even the slightest sound of an engine, whatever powered this vehicle did so silently. As well as the lack of noise, the g-forces he'd have expected to feel travelling at this speed were practically non-existent.

He hadn't realised, but the whole time, he had been holding his breath. Now floating in space with the yellow surface of the planet just beneath his feet, he finally let it out.

Looking around, it was hard not to marvel at the scene before him. The two suns were shining brightly, although the light wasn't so harsh now, as the intensity had been defused by a sudden darkening of the ship's transparent front end.

Alex had seen many images of space, on television and in films, but this was so different. This was real. The experience of actually being in space was so mesmerising that for a little while it pushed all the worries about what would happen to him, right out of his mind.

They were moving again, the only indication of this was the view as the planet receded from beneath him.

"We've been waiting for you for a long time," the pleasantly soft female voice interrupted Alex's thoughts, making him suddenly aware of been watched.

"Me?" he croaked, feeling awkward under her scrutiny. Her clear, blue eyes seemed to bore right into him.

"I'm told you have...... the gift. They say you are the one who can free us."

What did she mean the gift, thought Alex, maybe she's talking about the things I can do with my mind. It was the only explanation he could think of. But what on earth was she going on about with this freeing business? "What do you mean, free us?"

"Didn't they tell you anything back there?" a concerned look came over her face "Didn't they tell you why we need you. Why you're the only one who can stand against the Guardian."

Was this what that stalk eyed alien back there was asking his help for, to free them from this so called Guardian?

"I don't understand?" he said trying to match her stare, but not succeeding "and anyway I never said I would help."

A dark expression crossed her face, almost instantly the look of concern quickly replaced it. The change was so fleeting that Alex wasn't sure that he'd actually seen it at all.

"Let me explain why we need your help and why only you can save us," she said leaning towards him "A very long time ago a visitor came from outside of our star system, it was a type of being never seen before. This being possessed unimaginable powers. Powers that made it practically invincible. It swept away all of the governing bodies of every planet, taking control of everything. All attempts to fight back have been futile and we have lived under the Guardian's tyrannical rule ever since."

"And let me guess, it has abilities like me?" Alex asked turning away from her gaze and staring out into the black starkness.

"Yes... I know you've suffered terribly in the past few days, but with your help we can end all this suffering. Your success will not only free us, but with the Guardian gone, interstellar travel will once again become unrestricted and you will be able to return home. You'll not only be helping us, you'll be helping yourself too."

Reaching over she placed her hand on his arm, making him look at her.

"The planet we've just come from, they're forced to supply competitors for the games, and you've been selected for the fight arenas. It's one of the Guardian's favourite events." Her hand remained on Alex's arm as she spoke. He could feel the warmth of her palm against his skin.

"When they realised your species possessed the right mind capabilities, they put their plan in motion. But there was a problem, only the younger of your species could withstand being adapted, the older ones minds were too rigid. They had many failures until you came along... if you don't help us then all we've risked and all you've gone through will be for nothing."

There was such a lot to take in, a great deal of information and all these expectations of him. It was all a bit too much. The only responsibilities he'd ever had before this were to keep his room clean and occasionally take the bin out. Now suddenly an entire galaxy was depending on him. Closing his eyes, Alex felt like his head was going to explode. Leaning back fully into the chair, he released a shaky, exasperated sigh.

"I don't think I'm the one you've been waiting for. Just before you arrived I was totally overpowered by those things back there, I don't have anything like the abilities you think I have." He turned to look at her.

Alex was a bit taken back by the smile that spread across her face. He'd thought her quite pretty before, in an odd sort of way. Now though she was far beyond pretty, she looked absolutely stunning!

"If you'd have really fought it, they would have been helpless. What you've yet to realise is how much power you possess."

He looked at her puzzled.

"You have limitless power Alex; the only boundaries are the ones that you set for yourself."

### Nine

Nobody spoke for quite some time. Alex thought she was probably giving him time to digest all this new information. Limitless power she'd said. He didn't even know how to begin to think about that. What he'd done to the walls of his cell and that huge beast.

That had been amazing.

But according to her, that might have been just the tip of the iceberg. If so, then what else might he be capable of? Alex turned to look at her.

She seemed totally engrossed, as her fingers moved quickly over the floating holographic symbols, stopping here and there to touch one or another.

Returning his gaze to the star sprinkled blackness, his mind was in an absolute whirl. There was so much to think about, he didn't know quite where to begin.

The more he considered it, the more there seemed to be no choice, there was only one real option left open to him. It looked like the only possibility of ever seeing his family and home again, was to go along with their plan.

Also, if what she was telling him about having this unlimited power was true, then maybe he would be able to go up against this Guardian character and be victorious.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Thank you Alex." They were only three little words, but he could hear the gratitude and relief each one contained.

Now that it was settled, Alex not only felt reconciled, but also felt a tremendous sense of foreboding and trepidation at the uncertain road in front of him. With such a mix of emotions, it was reassuring to at least have a small modicum of control. For the first time he was making decisions about his future.

Closing his eyes, he tried to relax and maybe get some rest. Before long though, thoughts of the alluring alien sitting beside him filled his head. Opening his eyes and turning in her direction, he risked a quick peek.

She was looking directly at him and smiling, Alex felt his face suddenly redden.

He tried to shake the feeling of being caught doing something he shouldn't have. It had only been an innocent glance after all. He tried to cover his embarrassment with some small talk. He asked her how she could speak his language so fluently.

She explained that to have the ability to communicate in such a primitive dialect, no offence intended, she'd had some reconstruction of her vocal chords. As well as that, she'd had to undergo many exhaustive sessions learning how to use her new voice.

When Alex expressed shock at such drastic measures, she went on to explain further that although quite a few of the lower species still used linguistic speech, most of the higher species communicated through thought. And as the majority of these superior minds were similar, it was easier to understand each other using such a direct link, rather than trying to interpret the myriad of vocal sounds produced by each of the thousands, if not millions of different languages out there.

She went on to explain that the process had evolved over many hundreds of years and the inhabitants of the planet they'd just left behind were probably some of the most expert at it, but even they had struggled to achieve a mental connection with Alex. So for any chance of interacting with him, there had been nothing else for it, but to have her redundant vocal chords adapted.

Besides it wasn't painful, she reassured him, as well as being experts with the mind, they were also quite handy at dealing with matters of the body too. She nodded at the scars on his legs, as if to prove her point.

She seemed about to say something else, when a jolt shook the cockpit. Alex looked over at her alarmed.

"Sorry, I should have warned you, it's just a gate," she smiled reassuringly at him, her words quivering as more shudders rocked the craft.

"A gate?"

"A gateway. A vessel this size isn't equipped with interstellar flight capacities, so we have to use gateways...... invisible tears in space that connect one star system to another," she explained "it's an old fashioned way to travel, but it's quite safe."

Alex tried unsuccessfully to relax as the shaking intensified, wondering how much the ship could take of this. Gripping the arms of the seat tightly, he watched as the surrounding stars began pulsing, growing brighter with each flash until they merged into one vast blinding light. Before he had time to shield his eyes from the glare it was suddenly all over. Everything was calm, just the black calm peaceful emptiness of space, broken only by the pinpricks of light from a million stars.

"We're through," he heard her say, quite matter of factly.

Alex simultaneously released a pent-up breath and sigh of relief. Not wanting to show any sign of weakness in front of her, he pretended to yawn to try and hide his obvious anxiety.

After those scary last few moments, all he wanted was to know how much longer until they reached their destination. Fearing the question would make him sound like a whining child, he decided to keep quiet.

"Nearly there now," she said as if reading his mind. She pointed into the dark void at a small reddish speck roughly in Alex's eye line. "See that red dot, that's it."

Not really knowing why, he felt an oddly sinking sensation take hold as he looked at the tiny light. He stared intently at it as it slowly increased in size.

"What's your name by the way?" he asked, not only curious, but more than anything wanting to take his mind off the unexplained feeling of sudden apprehension at the sight of the red spot.

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it," she laughed "I've tried to say it in your language and it really doesn't sound right. Why don't you give me a name?"

"What about Sarah?" It was the first one to enter his head. It was the name of a girl he had a massive crush on at school and even as he said it, he felt himself blush again.

"Sarah...... Sarah," smiling she nodded "yes it sounds nice, is it the name of someone special back home?"

"No, it's just a name," he lied, feeling his face burn even hotter.

In the time it had taken for the short conversation, the red dot had turned into the size of a beach ball. It rapidly increased in size until it blocked out the view of everything else. Its surface comprised of light and dark swirls of angry reddish cloud. Watching closely, Alex could see formations forming at break neck speed, swiftly torn apart only to reform in a mesmerising chaos of patterns.

"Is that where were heading?" he asked staring out at the hellish vision.

"No, it's the station orbiting it, see over there."

Turning to look in the direction where Sarah nodded, he could just make out a small grey object dwarfed by the huge planet and bathed in its bright red glare. With the speed they were travelling, it wasn't long before they were close enough for Alex to get a better look.

Unlike the sleek alien technology he'd become so used to, this was something entirely different. Tarnished compartments right next to shiny ones, small sections randomly attached to larger structures. The nearer they got to it, the more Alex was able to appreciate just how big the space station really was.

From a distance it hadn't looked overly large, but up close the sheer scale of it was mind blowing. It gave the appearance of being haphazardly constructed. A mixture of parts, with so many odd angles, it looked as if very little thought or planning had gone in to it.

Banking sharply, Sarah piloted the craft into an opening in one of the smaller parts of the space station. Landing in a vacant space amongst other spacecraft, in what was obviously a hanger, she again busied herself with the floating holographic symbols.

Alex stared in silent fascination at the varying designs of crafts. The one nearest him in particular, resembled a hammerhead shark. With its torpedo shaped body and splayed out front or back section (he wasn't sure which way it was facing) only adding to the image. It was similar in colour to Sarah's vehicle, but at twice its size, it gave the impression of pure power.

His gaze flicked from one craft to another as he tried to take it all in, eventually he turned to look at her.

"Welcome to Bessilyn, home of the universal games," she said smiling.

### Ten

Standing in the middle of the room, Alex turned slowly, taking in his new surroundings. Not luxurious by any standard, but the room was head and shoulders above anything he'd been in recently. The pale blue colour of the walls and floor, lent the whole place a certain atmosphere of calm.

Apart from the bed (the only truly recognisable piece of furniture), there were many other items in the room. One of these in particular may or may not have been a chair, he wasn't entirely sure. As for the handful of other weird and wonderful structures, Alex wasn't even able to hazard a guess as to what their function might be.

Built into one of the walls was something resembling a television screen. The means to turn it on eluded him, so again he felt unsure as to its true purpose.

The only other thing that Alex could at least recognise and use was fixed to the wall by the bed. A large mirror.

He'd stood in front of it for quite some time, trying to get used to the stranger staring back. Already aware that his body had changed significantly, it was still a shock to actually be able to see this new version of himself. Not only was he transfixed by the reflection of his muscular frame, but for the first time he could see the full extent of the horrendous scars on his legs and arms. Although what distressed him most of all were the changes he could see in his face. The carefree and some might say handsome looking boy was gone. In its place was the haunted face of someone much older. Even the eyes staring out from the mirror looked to have faded with age. Finding the whole image of himself unsettling, eventually he turned away.

Lying on the basic, though not uncomfortable bed, hands laced behind his head and staring up at the ceiling, Alex recalled the events of the past hour.

He remembered glancing nervously at the hanger's large opening from the safety of the ship, wondering what would stop him from just floating out into space if he stepped outside.

Sarah on the other hand squeezed past him and jumped nonchalantly from the craft. Giving neither the opening nor Alex a second glance, she strode off towards one of the hanger exits, appearing to know exactly where she was going.

Seeing that she hadn't drifted off into space, Alex jumped down. Hurrying to catch up with her, he took the opportunity to get a better look at her as he followed behind.

Now she wasn't sitting down, he saw that height wise she only came up to his shoulders. He felt his eyes involuntarily drawn to the swivelling motion of her hips and buttocks as she walked briskly along the interconnecting corridors. He tried to look away, not wanting to get caught, but each time he found himself staring again. He became so absorbed, he didn't realise she'd stopped and walked straight into her, making them both stumble.

"Sorry" Alex apologised.

"Are you alright Alex?" she asked concerned, turning towards him "you look a little flustered"

"I'm fine" he said, cursing silently to himself and hoping she hadn't seen what he'd been looking at.

Turning to the sealed doorway, where she'd stopped before Alex had barrelled into her, she pressed a small panel on the wall, and stepped back.

"This is where you'll get your fight ranking. This being your first time they would normally put you into a lower category, but I'll sort that out."

Standing on tiptoe, she whispered in his ear "whatever happens from now on you can't let anyone know about your special abilities." Her hot breath on his cheek sent shivers down his spine.

Before Alex could even think of anything to say, the door opened. Sliding back in much the same way as a lift doors would back home, only much faster.

Leading the way, Sarah walked over to a large grey boulder in the centre of the small, dimly lit room. She stood motionless and just stared at it for what seemed like ages.

"What's going on?" Alex asked, curious about what she was doing "I thought this was meant to be some sort of selection process."

"It is, I'm trying my best to get you a higher ranking, but it seems you're to be selected for the pits. It's the worst placing there is."

As he watched Sarah turn back to the boulder, it suddenly dawned on Alex what was actually happening here.The thing in the middle of the room wasn't a piece of rock. On closer inspection, what he'd first thought of as the surface of a stone was in fact rough elephantine skin. Now that he'd realised his mistake he was able to make out two small black eyes, peering out from its creased skin, and what might possibly be a mouth. Although as far as he could see there weren't any obvious signs that the thing possessed any limbs.

Sarah had obviously been communicating telepathically with this thing the whole time, even arguing with it. Turning abruptly, she practically stormed past Alex and straight out of the room.

"What happened?" he asked running to keep up with her.

"Damn bureaucrats!" she looked furious. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she shrugged, "never mind...... it's going to take a little longer that's all, the Guardian only ever meets with the top competitors. You'll just have to work your way up."

It wasn't long after, that she'd shown him to the very room he was in now, telling him to wait here while she sorted out his enrolment, and this was where he now lay, staring at the light blue ceiling.

Sighing with boredom, he swung his legs round and sat up. The act of lying on the bed felt quite pointless, Alex no longer seemed to derive any benefit from it. During the last few days he'd begun to notice that he no longer required sleep. His body's new capacity to function without rest must be the result of the aliens tampering, the same as his not needing to eat or drink. It felt strangely liberating to be free of aches and pains or the feeling fatigue of any kind, but at the same time it did leave him wondering what else they might have done to him.

With nothing to occupy his time, Alex decided to try a little experiment. Focusing on the thing he thought could be a chair; he tried using his mind to lift it. Only instead of picturing a physical extension of his body like the last few times, he just simply tried to will it to rise.

It fell over.

Clearing his mind and concentrating harder, he jumped in shock as it suddenly shot upwards and smashed to pieces on the ceiling. Watching the closed door of his room, Alex waited nervously to see if there would be any response to the noise. When nobody came, he turned his attention back to the shattered remains on the floor. Looking at the broken bits and pieces, he came to the conclusion that projecting force was quite easy, but his ability to control things with precision would require a lot more practice.

So for the next hour or so, Alex patiently manipulated the broken shards. Raising one piece up at a time, slowly turning it in the air, then lowering it back down again. By the end of the exercise he was moving nearly all of them, individually controlling each one and making them hover in different patterns. As he became more proficient at the task, what amazed him more than anything wasn't that he was able to do these things in the first place, but that it had all becoming like second nature to him.

Pleased with his progress, he decided to call it a day. The only problem now was what to do with the evidence of his earlier accident. Gathering the debris up into a large pile, he began to crush it all together in a mental vice. The floating bundle began to shrink further and further as Alex concentrated on contracting it into the smallest possible size. But no matter how hard Alex crushed the bits together, as soon as he released the pressure, even for a second, the whole thing would simply fall apart. Whatever material this was, no amount of force would mould it into a solid form.

Alex began to get annoyed as he stared at the untidy football sized clump floating before him.

Then an idea suddenly struck him, unsure if it would even work, he imagined the temperature around it rising. Almost instantly the separate pieces started to merge as they melted from the sudden heat. A burning smell filled the room as the ball became white hot. Relaxing his mental hold on the temperature and allowing it to cool down, he looked at the solid blackened ball and marvelled at this newly discovered part of his ability.

"Limitless power!" Alex smiled to himself as he recalled Sarah's own words on the subject.

### Eleven

The next few days seemed to drag for Alex. Although the concept of days didn't apply as there wasn't really a night and day. Only the constant glare of the giant red planet they orbited. The only thing that did help was the fact that Alex was free to come and go as he pleased. Though with no way to leave Bessilyn he still felt technically like a prisoner.

He hadn't thought to try the door of his new room. It was only when Sarah returned that he discovered it wasn't locked. She explained that he shouldn't think of himself as a captive, but as a competitor. For the plan to succeed he must appear to be a willing combatant in the games.

"What's that smell?" She asked, sniffing the air "it's like something burning."

Sarah had only recently told him to keep his abilities secret and as soon as her back was turned, he'd been using them. Luckily for Alex he'd already hidden the ball of fused pieces underneath the bed, not wanting her to disapprove of his recklessness. He shrugged his shoulders and quickly changed the subject.

"I couldn't get the television working."

"Television?" she said looking slightly confused.

"I was bored, I wanted to watch something," Alex nodded at the built in screen.

Sarah's face brightened as she understood what he was referring to. Walking over to him, she pressed a small panel on the wall which opened to reveal what looked like a large black rubber band.

"It goes around your head." she explained, as she handed it to him.

It felt more metallic than rubber as he experimentally stretched the flexible material between his hands before slipping over his head like a sweat band.

"What do I...?" Alex stopped abruptly.

Sarah, the room, everything, suddenly disappeared.

Alex found himself sitting in a gigantic stadium. Around him were hundreds if not thousands of aliens, too many different varieties and forms for his eyes to register as single individuals, just a total mass of continuous movement. The scene looked like something out of a hellish nightmare. A red light bathed everything adding the final touch of horror.

What was this? What was happening? Desperately he tried shouting for Sarah, but couldn't hear his voice. He realised he couldn't hear anything.

He saw that the crowd's attention was firmly fixed downwards, towards the circular base at the bottom of the vast arena. There was something happening down on the stadium floor. Being so far above it, Alex couldn't see. Whatever it was, it clearly excited the crowds around him.

Suddenly he was back in the room. Sarah was standing next to him, the black band in one hand and a worried expression on her face.

"You alright?" the concern clearly evident in her voice, as he rubbed his eyes trying to dispel the feeling of disorientation, "you looked like you were becoming distressed."

"I was transported to another place."

"No, you were right here," she smiled reassuringly at him and held up the band "you were receiving images from the viewing device... like your television."

"Believe me that was nothing like a television" Alex sighed; feeling relieved now that he understood what had happened "it was so real. It was like I was really there."

"The device links directly to the brain, the signals are sent straight into the mind," she explained.

"Well it beats TV hands down," he grinned up at Sarah who looked slightly perplexed, but smiled back at him anyway. "Apart from no sound though, maybe there's something wrong with it."

"There's nothing wrong, your brain's just not advanced enough to receive all the frequencies. The same goes for your inability to communicate with higher level species. Not taking your brain's physical abilities into account, intellectually your mind is quite primitive."

She said all this in quite matter of fact way, he could see she meant no offence and was just telling it like it was. Alex wasn't the least bit insulted, if anything he did indeed feel intellectually primitive amongst all these advanced beings.

"If the head band is your version of television, then what's that?" Alex asked pointing to the inbuilt screen.

Rather than explaining what it was, she instructed him to place both his hands firmly on its surface, telling him it was about time he used it anyway.

Doing as he was told, expecting the hard coldness of glass or plastic, he was surprised by the soft doughy feel of the screen. Almost immediately the whole thing pulsed with a yellow light, which quickly began to ooze from the screen, flowing like warm liquid over his hands and down both arms.

Not wanting to show himself up in front of Sarah, he stood still, allowing the light to cover his entire body. It wasn't a hardship as the sensation was strangely pleasant. It felt as if every part of him was being coated in a layer of soft warm syrup. The moment he became totally immersed in the light it started to fade, and very quickly evaporated entirely.

"Amazing!" Alex laughed, he didn't think he'd ever felt as clean and revitalised as he did now "It's a shower!"

Sarah smiled and nodded.

His skin and clothes not only looked fresh and clean, his whole body tingled with a revitalised feeling.

Remembering her comment that he should use this, he silently cringed and hoped that he hadn't been overly smelly before.

"Back home our showers use water," he said turning his back so as not to let her see his red face "but yours are much better."

"Water...... your family must be very wealthy."

Turning back to her again now that his face had calmed down, he shook his head. "Not really."

"Water is an extremely precious commodity. There are very few planets that have sustainable supplies and manufactured water is very expensive."

"Two thirds of my planet is water" Alex said watching the shocked expression on Sarah's face as he went on to tell her about the oceans of earth.

"If the Guardian becomes aware of your planets

existence, the repercussions for your world could be disastrous." Her whole demeanour suddenly became very serious, "more is at stake now than you realise, if you're discovered or the plan fails, it might lead straight back to my allies you so recently encountered and ultimately to your planet."

"What would happen to Earth?" Alex asked, suddenly fearful.

"The entire planet's water reserves would be taken, it would be the end for your world and everything on it," she said sadly.

Alex's mind reeled. "No that can't happen, I won't let it happen...... I refuse to help you anymore."

He waited for Sarah's reaction, expecting anger or even pleading, but she only looked at him sadly.

"The truth is...... the moment your abilities became evident, your kind was doomed. The planet's abundance of water aside, the Guardian can't allow any species capable of such power to live and remain a risk to him."

There was no way he could back out now, failure would mean the end of everything he knew and loved. Mankind's fate rested in his hands.

It was all too much, how could he have the slightest chance of success, when even now he could feel the great weight of the responsibility bearing down on him.

Sitting back on the bed he hung his head, trying to breathe as the enormity of what he faced threatened to totally overwhelm him. How could he even begin to deal with such pressure?

Swallowing hard and trying to control the mounting panic, his mind filled with images of his mother and father, these calming thoughts seemed to drive all others out.

That's how I'll cope, he realised the responsibility for saving Earth and all of mankind would be too much to bear. He knew it would eventually crush him. But saving his mum and dad, he could cope with that. Thinking about them, and only them, might help with whatever was to come in the times ahead.

### Twelve

In what Alex thought of as the days after his conversation with Sarah, mostly in the quieter times when he was on his own, he'd find himself brooding over her words. It was only the constant thought of his mother and father that bolstered his resolve and helped him to remain focused on the job at hand.

Sarah had told him he must try to appear as if he were a willing participant in the games. Alex decided that sitting alone in his room probably wasn't the best way to achieve this. But it became clear early on that his problems with communicating with the other competitors on Bessilyn meant that he couldn't stray too far from his room. The one time he did leave, he got immediately lost in the maze of grey corridors. Unable to ask for directions from any of the strange beings; it was only by pure luck that he found his way back.

With exploring the space station not really a practical option, he divided his time between using the viewing band and secretly perfecting the precision part of his abilities. The only trouble with the band was that he had no control over what he watched, sometimes it was interesting, and at other times it made no sense whatsoever.

He enjoyed the spacecraft races, the exhilarating feeling of floating in space as the different vessels whizzed all around him. But then there'd be scene after scene of strange beings that seemed to do little if nothing at all. Alex found that this seemed to drag on for what felt like ages.

Sarah came and went. Conversation was always limited to small talk, as if Sarah feared that anything more would push Alex over the edge. It almost came as a relief when she told him that his first fight was scheduled to start very soon. She explained that due to his low ranking, there would be little to no warning as to when he'd be expected to compete and that this sort of short notice would continue until he achieved a higher placing.

Alex's first fight on Bessilyn, although successful, was nearly an unmitigated disaster.

He already felt nervous upon entering one of the lesser fighting arenas, known to the competitors as the Pit, and Sarah's repeated assurances that he'd do just fine, didn't really help. His mind kept returning to what was at stake, even forcing himself to focus on thoughts of his mum and dad only partially worked.

The Pit itself looked quite familiar, very similar to the circular combat rooms he'd first experienced back on the last planet. The main difference being this one had the look of age and extended use, dazzling white walls and an air of general sterility, were replaced by grime and a rank stench. Rather than materializing doorways, the doors in these rooms opened by sliding apart. And as these particular ones did, they revealed Alex's opponent.

Standing roughly the same height as Alex, the creature lumbered inside. Its actions appeared sluggish, as if it was struggling to move under its own weight. Swaying slightly, it stood watching him. Loose folds of dark leathery skin covered the creature's bloated body. Four tree trunk-like legs supported a huge swollen belly and sprouting from broad shoulders were four thick stocky arms ending in fat stunted fingers.

As strange as this creature's appearance was, its head was the oddest thing of all, looking totally out of place on the vast bulk of its body. A small delicate head perched on an incredibly slender neck, the almost amphibian face was dominated by a large gaping mouth and small beady eyes.

Its garments were similar in style to Alex's, except of course for the extra limbs, and the creature's large frame stretching the fabric to its limit.

Alex kept his distance as they slowly began to circle each other. Wondering what he should do now, (unsure if he was meant to know the proper etiquette or if there'd be some kind bell as an indication for the fight to begin), when the creature suddenly rushed at him.

Taken totally by surprise, Alex reacted instinctively, lashing out at the charging beast with an extremely ferocious mental blast. The whole room practically shook as the creature was smashed backwards into the wall.

Falling in an untidy heap to the floor, it lay there unmoving; it's arms and legs sticking out at odd angles. A green liquid (which Alex guessed was probably blood), spread from beneath it, forming a growing puddle.

Alex wasn't quite sure how to feel as a door opened to reveal Sarah waiting for him. Stepping out to stand beside her, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for the poor thing he'd left shattered on the floor behind him. But also there was relief that he'd successfully passed the first stage of the all-important plan and was now closer to achieving its completion.

Sarah's face gave nothing away as she turned to lead him through the maze of corridors. Hurrying to keep up with her as she strode purposely ahead, Alex got the distinct impression that she was angry. Following behind her through the twists and turns, a feeling of apprehension began to build as he wondered what her reaction might be at the blatant use of his powers.

It didn't take long before they arrived back at his room. Once the door was shut, Alex waited for the tirade to start.

Sarah only stood and stared at him saying nothing. Feeling awkward, he would have preferred for her to have a go at him rather than this strained silence. The completely blank expression on her face left Alex unable to gauge what she was thinking. Barely able to meet her eyes, he looked all-round the room instead.

"Sorry," he ventured timidly.

"Sorry!...... sorry!" she practically blasted at him "how could you be so stupid?"

Taking a step forwards she looked up at him, her face a picture of rage. Before Alex could think of anything to say, she started to rant loudly again.

"Do you have even the slightest indication how much has been sacrificed to get you here? Everything depends on keeping your abilities hidden, and at the very first opportunity you openly announce to everyone their existence and with it your potential threat to the Guardian."

She hardly stopped to draw breath, before continuing on.

"The only thing that might be in your favour, is the fact it was such a low ranking fight that no one really took any interest in it... I just can't believe how stupid you were."

She went on and on, although Alex tried several times to apologise, each attempt seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Alex fully understood what was at stake here; he was under enough pressure without being told off like a little child. Tuning her words out, he watched her furious face as she carried on.

The first stirrings of anger flaring inside him, breathing deeply and trying to ignore Sarah, he struggled to calm himself down. With rising alarm he felt the fury building, remembering what he'd done to the giant slug when he'd been in the grip of this before, he desperately fought to control it.

Just as he thought he was succeeding, Sarah jabbed him on the shoulder with a finger. There wasn't any real force behind it and Alex barely felt it. But it was enough to tip him over the edge. Like a switch being flicked on inside Alex's head, his mind instantly flooded with a blinding rage. A red mist descended and for a few moments there was nothing. His world became just a churning mass of violent thoughts. Cocooned inside this total eruption of fury he lost all sense of himself.

Slowly, bit by bit as the boiling emotions began to recede, he regained control of his senses and awareness of his surrounds started to return.

The sight that greeted him brought him instantly back to reality.

Hovering just a few feet in the air in front of him was Sarah's motionless form. Blood from her nose and mouth covered the lower half of her face.

The shock of seeing her in such a way made Alex's mind immediately freeze. Although unaware of his apparent controlling mental impulses, the sudden halt of his thoughts released her, letting her fall into a crumpled heap on the floor.

Rushing to her side, his first fear as he knelt down beside her and looked into the still, blood soaked face, was that she was dead. But leaning closer, he was relieved to hear the faint sounds of breathing. Gently picking her up, using his arms, not trusting his mental abilities just now, he carried her feather light body to the bed and placed her down carefully.

How could he have done such a thing? He miserably asked himself, as the feelings of guilt swamped him. Reaching out to wipe away some of the blood on her face, he froze as her eyes flickered open.

The guilt intensified as Alex plainly saw the fear in Sarah's eyes.

"Sorry," the word seemed woefully inadequate.

"No it's not your fault," she croaked as she pushed herself up. Alex leant in to help her sit up, but stopped when he saw her flinch. "You've got enough to contend with...... I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

Manoeuvring herself slowly off the bed she limped towards the door. Alex started to ask if she needed any help, but Sarah refused, saying she was fine, "Just need some rest, I'll be alright."

"Sorry," he said to the closed door as he stood in the empty room, sitting down on the bed he hung his head. The tears started shortly after.

### Thirteen

The next time Sarah visited him, it very quickly became apparent that things had changed between them. Her face showed no outwardly physical signs of what had happened recently, but her whole demeanour towards him had changed. Alex awkwardly tried to bring up the subject and apologise, only for her to wave it away as if unimportant.

As well as acting generally wary around him, she also spoke cautiously too. Seeming to weigh up every word, in case a wrong one would anger him.

He realised she was terrified of him.

Alex thought the guilt couldn't get any worse. But Sarah's obvious fear of him and the strained atmosphere in the room only multiplied the feelings.

"Nothing was recorded of your fight, except for the fact that you won. Your opponent only received superficial wounds and doesn't recall much about the whole thing so you're in the clear" she said with a faltering smile.

"When is my next one?" he asked, trying to sound relaxed, hoping Sarah would feel reassured by his calmness and wouldn't be worrying about a repeat of the recent incident.

"That's why I'm here, your next fight is about to start shortly."

She opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. Alex couldn't help but feel hurt at the relief so clearly evident on her face as she exited the room and out of the close proximity to him.

Following her, he silently vowed to himself that during this next fight he wouldn't allow his abilities to show. With a little planning, he felt sure he could disguise them and not let either Sarah or himself down again.

This time when he entered the circular room he wasn't alone. Turning to watch as he walked inside was what at first glance appeared to be a monkey, albeit a very emaciated one. With the recognisable posture of a primate and coarse looking brown fur covering it's body, plus elongated arms it all added to the image of a familiar looking chimpanzee-like creature. Almost skeletal in its thinness and only mid-thigh high, it also looked quite harmless.

The only thing spoiling this whole picture were the eyes, huge round yellow saucers, so big that its head seemed to be just these and nothing else. A small mouth and snout hardly visible on the lower half of its face looked almost squashed between the two massive yellow orbs.

The overhead lights reflected in the large glistening eyes as it stared in Alex's direction. Although with no pupils, he couldn't be sure if it was actually looking at him and not somewhere else.

Was he supposed to fight such a harmless looking creature? It was just skin and bone, the thing's ribs stuck out quite alarmingly giving it the appearance of being malnourished and starving.

Crouching perfectly motionless and watching, it made no move as Alex experimentally slid a foot towards it. Bringing his rear foot up level with the first one, he stopped and waited to see what the reaction might be. Remaining stationary, it tilted its head and blinked slowly.

"What do we do now?" He was surprised by his tone, it was how he would have spoken to a puppy or some similar kind of cute animal.

At the sound of his voice the creature hesitantly started to move towards Alex. Using both arms in a swinging motion it levered the rest of its body forwards in much the same way as a chimpanzee would. Stopping when it was a few feet from Alex, it looked up at him.

"Are you even meant to be in here?" he asked in the same tone as before.

Maybe this thing had wandered in by mistake, of all the creature's he'd seen involved in these fight games, they had at least one thing in common, they looked like they belonged here. But this thing, one hard kick would kill it. The more he thought about it the surer he became, it was probably somebody's lost pet.

Just as he reached out to see if it would allow him to stroke it, small slits, like the gills on a fish, flexed open down the middle of its lower back. A soft expulsion of air vibrated out from the flaps of skin, sounding very much like flatulence.

Alex would have chuckled at the amusing noise if the smell hadn't immediately hit him. Like a vile mix of sulphur and toxic, sweetly sour chemicals, it instantly stung his eyes and burnt the inside of his nose. Staggering backwards in an attempt to get away from the noxious fumes, he tripped and fell.

Scooting hurriedly back he still couldn't find any relief from the smell. His throat was now starting to burn as the foul stench clung persistently to him.

Through watery eyes he saw the creature move cautiously closer; it stopped to watch before starting to creep slowly forwards again. Coughing and retching uncontrollably, Alex struggled to breathe as he tried to crawl away.

Suddenly in a blur of movement, it was on his back, the deceptively weak arms clamping around his neck like a steel vice. Choking, Alex flipped himself backwards in an attempt to crush it. The small bony arms around his throat only tightened with each repeated effort.

Exhaustion quickly overtook him, his vision bloomed with stars and the taste of blood filled his mouth. Alex realised that defeat was now a real possibility. Desperately he tried to think of some way to use his powers without being detected.

Inspiration struck. He would do to it, exactly what it was doing to him.

Visualising a soft membrane, he quickly sealed the entire thing's body from its head to toes, coating ever part of it as it clung to his neck and back. Alex mentally constructed the invisible barrier to be soft and fine, but extremely strong at the same time. This way he hoped that the creature wouldn't feel its presence.

Now it was the little alien monkey's turn to suffocate.

Two things happened quickly, firstly the debilitating smell lessened, secondly Alex felt the arms around his neck slacken. Taking full advantage of the situation, he once again slammed himself backwards onto the floor. After only a few more of these it fell from his back and lay limply on the ground.

Wheezing pathetically and staring up at Alex, it again looked like some harmless underfed wretch. Alex instantly felt pity for the pathetic harmless looking creature before him.

Not to be fooled twice, he quickly quashed the feelings of sympathy and roughly picked up the feebly twitching thing, throwing it at the nearest wall. And just for good measure he added a small mental push, accelerating it forcefully, so that it hit with a sickening crunch. Turning his back on the small broken body as it tumbled to the floor, he waited for the door to open.

This time the walk back with Sarah was totally different. Rather than storming off, she ambled along by his side, praising him for his performance. She chatted and smiled openly as they made their way towards his room.

However, when they reached his door, she didn't follow him inside, but hesitantly made an excuse about having to be somewhere else.

Pretending not to notice the transparency of the lie, Alex nevertheless was heartened at the progress he felt he was making with her. He knew he still had a long way to go to make up for the horrendous thing he'd done to her. But he hoped that with enough time, she'd forgive him and they could start to rebuild some of the lost trust. Maybe, he secretly thought, she might even see him in a different light.

### Fourteen

Time merged into long, continuous, tedious, uneventful stretches of absolute boredom for Alex. Broken only with short lived bouts of excitement. His new existence now revolved around either fighting or the long extended periods waiting to do so.

Becoming more and more worried about the discovery of his abilities, he dared not practice, even in the secrecy of his room. Instead he'd while away the hours with stints on the viewing band.

He was quite surprised when on one occasion; he came across a recent fight of his. His ego swelling with the thought that this was probably being seen by countless aliens throughout multiple star systems.

Observing himself, Alex felt an almost perverse pleasure seeing his lithe body in action as he mercilessly bludgeoned his opponent into submission. At the same time it was quite an oddly surreal feeling to witness something so vividly, when the person you were seeing was you. In a strange way it was almost like watching a broadcast of your own memories. Annoyingly though, no matter how much time Alex spent using the band after that, he never caught another glimpse of himself.

The only other option left open for him to fill his time was exploring Bessilyn. This was made easier as he slowly became more familiar with the small part of the space station outside his room.

On one of these exploratory walks he found what he could only describe as a viewing area. It consisted of a concave row of raised level structures facing a non- existent wall. Obviously the wall wasn't missing, but had to be operating on the same transparent technology that Alex had seen in Sarah's spacecraft.

He spent many hours staring at the slowly revolving scenery, either alone or in the company of beings who simply ignored him. Alex preferred it this way, he didn't have to pretend to be something he wasn't. He could just be himself, sitting there and enjoying the view. Mostly he would watch the stars, but every half an hour or so the giant red planet with its boiling red clouds would come into view. Its shifting patterns had an almost hypnotic and strangely calming effect on him.

Drifting into his own private world, time would slip by unnoticed as deeper, troubling thoughts filled his mind. Thoughts about home and family, now seemed indistinct, he even had difficulty in picturing the faces of his mother and father. His old life felt more like a dream than this new, strange existence. Recollections of his past no longer made him feel sad; they were just old memories of a distant life. Now slowly fading, as all old memories naturally do.

He had more important things to think about anyway; he had the pressure of having to win every one of his fights. With the added problem of not allowing his abilities to show, he now struggled harder with each successive bout as he tried to hide it. On the plus side, with each fight he grew more and more adept at despatching his opponents speedily and efficiently.

An error of judgement had cost him a severely injured arm, when a creature armed with pincers had caught him off guard. So now he fought in an invisible shield of body armour. Adapting more or less the same principle that he'd used on the stinking yellow eyed monkey, he could quite comfortably be hit and stabbed, and nothing would penetrate the practically impervious barrier.

It was on one of these visits to the viewing room when a very flustered looking Sarah found him. She'd rushed over to him practically bursting with excitement.

"There you are, I've being looking everywhere for you," she said breathing heavily.

Glancing quickly round the room, satisfying herself they were alone, she sat down next to him.

"Fantastic news! You've qualified for the mid-level bouts."

Before Alex could respond she grabbed his forearm and leant in closer. "The only problem is I've just had word the Guardian's due to visit to Bessilyn any time now..."

She carried on whispering in Alex's ear, the trouble was all he could think about was her close proximity and the fact she was holding onto his arm. This was the first real physical contact he'd had with her since the unfortunate incident. With her hot breath on his face and her thigh brushing against his, he was unable to concentrate on the jumble of words that fell from her lips.

"You haven't been listening to a word I've said," she said clearly exasperated.

Quickly coughing to clear his throat, he mumbled a

sheepish apology.

"Everything alright?" she asked concerned.

Alex nodded, trying to focus his thoughts on the present conversation and not the warmth of her thigh pressing against his.

"I was saying we can't afford for you to spend too much time in the middle levels," as she leaned in even closer, her breath blowing in his ear did nothing to help Alex's efforts to concentrate "Time is now of the essence. To get to the Guardian you must achieve a top ranking as soon as possible."

"How do I do that?" Alex asked, finally listening to Sarah's words.

"Because of your present status, you've now got access to the training room. You could use this facility to create a situation to intimidate all the other competitors, if no one's willing to fight you, you would be automatically transferred into the top ranking events."

Alex opened his mouth to ask her again how he would do such a thing, but realised from the expression of hope on her face she that was relying on him to come up with a plan.

With no idea what he was going to do, but not wanting to let her down, he forced himself to smile reassuringly.

"What time does is it open?"

"It's always open," Sarah said standing up.

Before he could think of a reason to delay going and give himself some time to come up with some sort of game plan, he found himself following her.

He was still at a total loss as to what to do when Sarah stopped suddenly in front of him and pushed a panel on a nearby wall. As a door slid open, Sarah stood aside and gestured for him to enter.

"Are you coming in?" Alex asked trying to sound and look more confident than he felt.

"It's for competitors only," she said turning to leave.

"Sorry...... I'm so sorry about what I did to you, I..." Alex tailed off not knowing what else to say, surprising himself with the sudden unplanned outburst.

Sarah reached out, placing a hand on his face, her three fingers gently caressing his cheek. Looking into Alex's eyes with a strange expression he couldn't interpret, she then turned and walked away.

Not really knowing how to interpret what had just happened, he was left with no option but to watch her until she disappeared around a bend. Turning to the open door, Alex took a deep breath before walking through.

The room was a hive of activity. Wherever Alex looked there was something going on. It took a few seconds for Alex's senses to become accustomed to the overpowering chaos of sounds and smells. Dominating the huge space were two large dome structures, both resembling transparent igloos. Inside one of them he could see a wrestling match going on between two mismatched aliens.

A squat six legged toad-like being was obviously fighting to stay on its multiple feet, as its opponent violently pushed and pulled, trying to dislodge it. The thing doing all the strenuous work looked like nothing more than a small mottled green gelatinous blob.

Constantly changing its appearance as odd shaped extremities emerged and then retracted from the central mass. Its struggle looked very one sided as it tried to grapple with its stationary partner. Neither combatant seemed to be gaining any advantage, the toad creature having such a low centre of gravity that the blob with its size disadvantage just couldn't get any leverage.

The rest of what was going on in the room however, looked distinctly similar to what he'd seen in gyms on earth. The majority of beings seemed to be performing various weightlifting exercises; the only difference here was that there were no weights.

Instead of barbells and dumbbells, stored around the room at regular intervals were racks of small black rods. Watching closely Alex saw how these worked. Upon activation, the ends of each rod would send out two beams of light, like railway lines. The rods were then suspended between the two beams, but could be moved up or down along the lights length. Judging by the different exercises being done with these devises, the angle of the light rays could be adjusted to accommodate any range of movement for any type of body. The rods resistance was obviously linked to the thickness of the light, as all of the bigger aliens were working with beams twice the breadth of that of the smaller beings.

Still not sure what he could do to frighten all these motley aliens, he suddenly spotted a piece of equipment being used that gave him an idea.

Connected to the floor and ceiling like a large pillar was a very heavy duty looking punch bag. Launching itself violently at the bag was a large three legged creature, it's blue skin so folded and wrinkled that it looked as if it was made of melted rubber. It had a disproportionately small upper body, comprising of a swollen round mass with multiple eyes dotted around its entire circumference. Each one of these eyes blinking separately and in random patterns. The creature's lower half was totally different; its three huge thick legs looked heavily muscled under the loose blue skin. Each limb ending in three toes topped off with long sharp looking talons.

Its repeated assaults on the bag, although aggressive and obviously forceful, left no impressions on the piece of equipment, even when it lashed out, tearing at it with its claws.

Walking over to a similar unattended punch bag, Alex reached out to touch it. The surface felt oddly soft as it yielded slightly under his hand.

Stepping back and focusing his thoughts, Alex swung a right hook, at the same time he aimed a mental blast at the place where his fist would land. The result was even better than he had hoped for.

Standing back to admire his handy work as the receding sound of the impact echoed around the room, Alex saw that the whole side of the bag was smashed in. He didn't need to look round the room to know that he was now the centre of attention, all background noise had stopped and he could feel everyone's eyes fixed on him.

Stepping in again, placing his hands on the damaged punch bag, he used his mind to wrench the pillar from its moorings. The screeching sound as it tore away from the ceiling and floor was horrendous.

Now for the finishing touch thought Alex. Keeping his hands firmly on the column as he levitated it above his head, he ripped it spectacularly in half.

Letting the two pieces fall casually to the floor, he walked calmly towards the exit, looking neither left nor right. Noting however from the corner of his eyes, that every single creature in the room turned to watched him leave.

### Fifteen

Standing outside the gym, he felt elated at how well things had turned out. But mixed in with the upbeat feelings, there was also a mild sense of disappointment that Sarah wasn't waiting for him.

He'd seen her leave before going inside, but had hoped she might have come back. It wasn't only her company he craved, he would have liked some assurance that he hadn't gone too far by ripping that piece of equipment right out of its fixings.

Maybe he should just have thrown a couple more destructive punches and left it at that, in hind sight that last demonstration of strength was probably too much. With so much riding on him, he couldn't afford to make mistakes; he just hoped that this wasn't one.

After waiting for a few more minutes, he finally had to admit to himself that Sarah wasn't going to show up. So retracing his and Sarah's initial steps, he soon found his way back to more familiar ground.

The walk back to his room felt slightly different from usual, Alex was so used to dodging out of everyone else way that it became an unconscious habit. If he did accidentally collide with any of the different varieties of inhabitants on the space station, there would be very little reaction from them. He was simply barged out of the way, as if not even there, it often made him feel like he was invisible. This time however, it was different.

Walking straight towards him was a large, black multi limbed lobster-like thing, Alex automatically sidestepped out of its way. With a manic scurry of its many oddly jointed legs it matched Alex's movement, only to end up standing directly opposite him. Alex immediately stepped sideways, just as the creature did exactly the same thing, mirroring Alex's actions again. It appeared as if the two were engaged in some strange sort of dance. Fearing this situation would continue on forever if no one gave way, Alex stopped on one side to give the thing a clear way around him. In a blur of rapidly moving legs it edged passed Alex and quickly disappeared down the corridor.

Continuing on his way and after the third similar incident, Alex began to realise what was going on. All of a sudden the tables seemed to have turned. He was no longer the one who had to move out of the way and allow others to get by. Now it was they who moved aside. He got the distinct impression that some were even scared, as they appeared to cower at the mere sight of him, pressing themselves against the walls to let him pass.

News of what he'd done in the training room had obviously spread like wild fire. Word of mouth would never have been able to work at such a speed, but some of these beings, Alex reminded himself, communicated by thought. Even so he was still a little surprised at the swiftness of it.

He also felt pretty certain that Sarah would now be aware of what had happened too and couldn't help wondering what her reaction might be.

He didn't have to wait long to find out, as Sarah was already waiting for him in his room.

"Fantastic, absolutely fantastic," Sarah's whole face beamed as she jumped off the bed and rushed over to hug him.

Shocked at her open display of delight, he tried to act nonchalantly as she pressed her firm body tightly against his. It was hard to act as such when his stomach was suddenly filled with butterflies and his legs felt like rubber, at being so close to her. He only hoped that his cheeks didn't betray him as she stepped back.

"I wasn't sure if I went too far."

"No you were perfect, it couldn't have gone any better," she smiled up at him. If she saw how flustered he was, she didn't show it.

"I was just worried they might suspect something?"

Sure now that everything was fine and not really needing any more reassurances, he just wanted to prolong the conversation, so he could continue watching Sarah in such a happy mood.

"You're the first of your kind to visit here, so no one really knows what your capabilities are," she reassured him, "but you sure did scare them. They've all refused to fight you."

"The only problem now is that you must have at least one fight at the mid-levels to enable you to progress to the higher ranks...... but don't worry, they're drafting in someone from outside Bessilyn, an experienced competitor from what I hear."

Whoever or whatever was being lined up, Alex felt no fear. He would deal with this fight just the same as he had all the others. There could really only be one outcome, and that was another victory.

"One thing you must do Alex, you must make sure that you leave no doubt that you're ready for the top fights, you'll have to make an example of this competitor..."

"You mean really hurt them?"

"No kill them."

Like the old adage, a watched kettle never boils; the wait for this next important fight seemed to take forever. What felt like days, but probably wasn't, started to drive Alex insane with boredom.

The viewing device didn't hold Alex's attention for more than a few minutes at a time and the scenes from the observation room seemed to have lost their fascination. The visits from Sarah were a distraction, but they were always too short and frustratingly few and far between.

So when Sarah did finally come to fetch him, he was practically hopping with excitement. Once out of his room he hurried to keep up with her as she raced off.

Abruptly, she stopped in the middle of an unremarkable part of the corridor, and turning to him, briskly explained that the fight would be held on the other side of the space station, as this was where all the more prestigious arenas were situated.

She didn't seem her normal self. It looked to Alex as if she was preoccupied with other things. But before Alex had the chance to ask if anything was wrong she stood on tiptoe, stretched out a hand and pressed a small obscure raised circular portion of the wall.

Seams instantly appeared on the walls surface. Two long diagonal lines, starting in each of the four corners and meeting in the middle to form a large X. Dividing into four separate triangular panels. These sections moved smoothly apart and quickly receded into the surrounding edges. With the whole wall now gone, Alex could see a large recess.

Sarah stepped inside and beckoned for Alex to follow. As soon as he joined her she jabbed away at a bewildering array of strange symbol covered buttons on a nearby wall.

The four sections quickly closed, only to glide open again just as quickly. It was almost instantaneous, so much so that Alex didn't even have time to brace himself in readiness for whatever was going to happen.

Sarah walked back out, Alex followed, feeling slightly annoyed and was just about to ask what on earth was going on when he noticed something different. Although still standing in a corridor, he realised this was not the same one. Pale blue in colour, brighter and much larger in comparison to the grey dingy ones he'd become accustomed too. Without waiting for Alex, Sarah strode off, hardly giving her new surroundings a second glance.

Alex found himself again hurrying to keep up with her, leaving no time to even marvel at the unbelievable speed with which they'd just travelled from one part of the station to the other. The rest of the journey was short and uneventful.

Walking at such a fast pace made conversation practically impossible, which appeared to be exactly what Sarah wanted for some strange reason. And as these corridors were for the most part deserted, they arrived outside the door of the new arena in no time at all.

As the doors slid apart, he looked into the empty and spacious combat area. Used to the grime and stench of the Pits, this room was like a breath of fresh air. It not only looked in a much better state of repair, with clean bright blue walls and an unmarked floor. But the strong smell of sweat, blood and other unmentionable odours that he'd also become acclimatised too, was also absent.

"I'm sorry," Sarah suddenly blurted from beside him "... we had no choice!" Alex caught a glimpse of the distraught expression on her face as she turned and hurried off.

Feeling confused, Alex looked at where Sarah had only moments ago been standing and wondered what she'd meant by no choice. With no other option, but to carry on, he resignedly made his way further into the large, high ceilinged circular room.

Spaced at regular intervals around the walls were viewing portals, filled with groups of strange creatures staring out at him. Being watched so closely made him feel very self-conscious. The added scrutiny would mean he was now going to have to be extra careful to keep his abilities hidden.

Walking to the centre of the floor, he flinched as a shiny metal sphere whizzed around his head, stopping for a few moments in front of his face, before moving upwards.

Following the ascent of the tennis ball sized object, he watched as it joined two more just like it. They hovered about a meter above his head, slowly circling in a clockwise formation, Alex's best guess as to their purpose was that they were probably some sort of filming device. It was a reasonable assumption, he thought, given the way it had lingered around his face. He would have to remember to ask Sarah when this was all over.

His attention was drawn away from the shiny spheres when the doors on the other side of the arena slid open. He was quite curious to see what this mysterious competitor looked like, but what walked through the doorway shocked Alex more profoundly than he had ever thought possible.

Alex looked on in utter disbelief as Paul stood facing him.

Now he knew what Sarah had been on about when she'd said they'd had no choice. At first Alex tried to tell himself this wasn't happening. As the reality of the situation slowly sank in though, he desperately racked his brain for a way out of this, but nothing came.

"Paul," Alex called out despairingly, not knowing what else to do.

Paul's face was totally blank, there wasn't even the slightest flicker of emotion as he stood and stared. Alex tried calling out his name again, only to be met with the same vacant expression.

Without warning Paul suddenly lunged, swinging a furious hard right hook into Alex's shocked and undefended face. Alex felt the inside of his lips mash against his teeth, his mouth instantly filling with warm salty blood. Alex stumbled as he tried to get away. It was more luck than anything else that the next two punches missed. Paul's face still looked utterly empty as he deftly stepped behind him and locked his arm around Alex's his throat.

Blood ran down Alex's chin as he fought to breathe. Desperately he tried to calm himself down, which was quite hard to do when Paul was in the process of crushing his wipe pipe. Despite that, Alex was able to clear his mind enough to employ his invisible body shield. To all the onlookers it would have appeared as if Alex was being systematically strangled when in fact he was now quite safe. Paul's arm was still around his throat, only the pressure was being deflected by the shield.

Through watering eyes, Alex saw the silver orbs silently hovering over him and Paul. If the floating balls were indeed cameras, then he was putting on a very poor performance. Aware that the consequences for not winning this fight could be catastrophic, Alex knew he should deal with his opponent with the ruthless efficiency he had employed in all his other bouts. If he didn't progress to the higher ranks soon, then all would be lost.

How could he justify hurting or doing something even worse to this man, he looked totally zoned out, but it was still Paul. Paul, the man who had been his friend, helped and guided him. Even put himself in harm's way to protect him.

It all came down to a horribly simple decision, Paul or his family? Which one would he choose to sacrifice? He couldn't save both.

Taking hold of the arm clamped around his neck, gripping tightly on Paul's upper arm, Alex closed his eyes and braced himself.

With hardly the slightest of mental exertions, a ripping sound suddenly filled the air. Alex wished he could close his ears as well as his eyes, as Paul screamed out in absolute agony from behind him. The horrendous sound seemed to go on forever; it was a noise he knew would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

Slowly opening his eyes, Alex looked down at the severed arm dangling in his hand. Dropping it onto the floor he turned round to face Paul.

No longer screaming, Paul groaned as he staggered backwards. Pulsing jets of bright red blood spurted from the ragged hole at his shoulder, coating the floor around him. Paul's face although drained of colour still had the horrendously calm blank look.

This was a small mercy for Alex, if he'd had to see the real Paul's reaction and not this zombie like thing before him, then he didn't think he would have had the strength to finish this. If he couldn't save Paul, then at least he could end his suffering quickly.

Knowing he must make the last piece of this act spectacular after such a dismal start. He stepped forwards, closing the gap between him and the pitifully tottering figure of his friend.

Bending forwards Alex took hold of Paul's ankles. Powerful one armed blows rained down on his back. He was amazed that there was still so much fight left in the mortally wounded man.If it hadn't been for the shield covering his body, Paul could still have done him quite a bit of damage.

Jerking upright while still holding onto both lower legs, he flipped Paul backwards, so that he landed with a heavy thump on the floor, where he continued to groan and squirm. Wishing the nightmare over, Alex closed his eyes.

Once again he released the power of his mind. Alex only just managed to hold on to both ankles as a violent jolt nearly ripped them from his grasp. A loud wet tearing sound filled the room, echoing off the walls. Paul's wretched groans ceased, all was now silent as Alex let the now still limbs fall to the floor.

Alex didn't want to look; he didn't want to see what he'd done to his friend.

Eventually as if by a will of their own, his eyes opened.

Streaks of blood and gore dripped from the walls, grey wet slippery organs were strewn across the crimson splattered floor. Wherever he looked, more horror met his eyes. What was left of Paul lay in front of Alex, from his crotch to his neck; he'd been literally torn in half.

The strange faces stared at him through the portals in the arena walls. Their alien features gave no clue as to their thoughts, as the shiny orbs buzzed around the mess.

Seeing the doors open to the side of him he bolted, in his haste he nearly slipped and fell in the gruesome mess. Regaining his balance, only by sheer luck, he ran slap bang into Sarah. He'd never been so happy to see anyone in his life, throwing his arms around her, he hugged her fiercely. As she wrapped her own arms around him it seemed to flick a switch inside. All the pent up emotion, all the horror of what he'd just done came flooding out of him. Breaking down Alex clung onto her, great gasping sobs shook his whole body as tears flowed freely down his face.

Sarah said nothing, she only held him tighter.

### Sixteen

A depressive bleakness descended over Alex, even though Sarah rarely left his side, it didn't seem to raise his spirits.

According to her, the fight had been a complete success. His ascension to the very pinnacle of the elite competitors was now firmly assured. They'd moved him to another room, more befitting to his new status. Much larger and more luxuriant, it had its own version of the viewing platform, although on a slightly smaller scale. Able to look outside whenever the inclination took him, the once calming effect of the stars, now seemed to leave him feeling totally deflated. When he stared out into the depths of the black endless ocean, all he saw was the image of his friend's mutilated body and walls drenched in blood.

Sarah tried hard not to answer any of Alex's questions on the subject of Paul, but with repeated badgering she finally relented.

It had been at the Guardian's own request that Paul be transported to Bessilyn to fight. As a general rule, same species never fought each other, but the Guardian (Alex could clearly see Sarah didn't want to reveal this part) thought it might be quite amusing.

As he listened, the first spikes of anger slowly began to prickle and stir inside him.

When asked about Paul's mental state she was even more reticent, with obvious fear evident on her face she hesitantly continued.

Paul had been just as unaware about who he was here to fight as Alex had been. By sheer chance, as Paul was being led to the arena, he saw Alex through one of the observation windows. Realising what he was here for, he fought back against his escorts. Sarah went on to explain that from what she'd heard from the various accounts of what happened, when the escape attempt failed, Paul tried to take his own life. Left with no time and little choice Paul had been neutralized. A procedure, she informed Alex that involved deactivation of the mind's higher functions, leaving the subject with just the primitive base levels.

Anger slowly gave way to sorrow as he listened to Sarah. Alex thought he couldn't have felt any lower than he already did. Sarah's words however, proved him wrong. Paul had been a friend right to the very end. He didn't deserve to die, especially in the savage way that he had. Alex had no more tears left, he was emotionally and physically drained. All he wanted to do now was curl up in a ball, close his eyes and pretend none of this was happening.

Sarah tried to comfort him. It only made him feel worse. Eventually she seemed to understand that all he wanted was to be by himself, so she quietly left the room.

"I want you to come with me, I think you need to get away from here for a spell," Sarah said, reappearing back a little while later.

He looked up from his slumped position on the bed and mumbled morosely "No I'm fine."

"No you're not fine. Come on, I'm not taking no for an answer."

Not wanting to go anywhere, but not having the inclination, or for that matter the energy to argue, he allowed himself to be taken by the hand and led outside.

"Where are we going?" he asked without much enthusiasm.

"You'll have to wait and see," she smiled mysteriously.

Alex continued to let her guide him along the various corridors, not really caring where they were heading.

They finally ended up in the space station's hanger. The first stirrings of something other than suffocating feelings of self-pity were roused inside him.

"Where are we going?" This time his question contained more curiosity, although the only reply he got from her was another smile.

Following Sarah over to her ship, no longer having to be led now as the prospect of getting off Bessilyn, even for just a little while, seemed to revitalise him.

Once inside the craft, Alex took his seat without having to be asked, feeling the contours of the chair begin to remould itself around him. The familiarity of it and of the whole interior brought back so many forgotten memories. So much had happened to him since the last time in this ship. He'd changed and grown up in so many ways, it was almost as if the person who'd first arrived here was a stranger to him now.

As before, the whole front end of the ship disappeared, the strange symbols and shapes made of light, obviously the crafts controls, suddenly reappeared as Sarah busied herself tapping away at them. The ship moved effortlessly and silently upwards and out of the hanger.

It took Alex a few moments to become accustomed again to the sensation of being apparently suspended in total nothingness as they moved out into space.

The further away from Bessilyn they travelled, the more Alex's dark mood released its grip on him. Staring out into the great expanse of stars, he felt the welcome return of the calmness it once brought him.

Sarah said nothing; it was as if she could sense that there was no need for words. Alex had been so absorbed with his own thoughts that at first he wasn't aware of Sarah's hand on top of his. Her three slender fingers slowly slipping between the gaps of his own. Turning to look at her, he saw that she too gazed outwards. An expression of peace etched across her features.

"I want to show something, I want to show you there's more to our universe than only the violence you've seen," she spoke softly, still staring at the scene in front of her. "There's so much more than that."

They'd travelled quite a distance from the space station when the craft banked sharply, changing its direction back towards Bessilyn and the huge red planet it orbited.

With an incredible burst of speed the ship flew straight back at the station, passing it with a wide berth and then on towards the planet and its angry boiling red clouds. The closer they got to the planet, the fiercer and more chaotic the churning red mass looked.

Within moments they entered the maelstrom, the ship bucked to and fro, buffeted violently by the forceful gusts that swirled around them.

"There's no need to worry, we're quite safe," Alex heard Sarah's voice shouting over the roar of deafening winds, her finger's giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. Great rumbling booms of thunder echoed inside the ship's interior.

Alex smiled at her and did his best to appear relaxed. His nonchalant act unravelling when he practically jumped out of his skin at a sudden flash of lightning.

Another particularly fierce bolt shot out from the clouds and hitting the invisible nose of the craft, exploded into a mass of blinding flares which snaked quickly in every direction over the ship's surface before fading away.

Breaking through the cloud layer, the thunder and lightning faded. The buffeting stopped as the craft plunged into a sudden oasis of calm.

The sight that greeted Alex was so different from what he had been expecting. It took a few seconds for him to take it all in.

The landscape of the planet below the raging clouds was so serenely beautiful that it practically took Alex's breath away.

Towering mountains with what looked like great sweeping forests covering their lower regions. Huge sparkling lakes nestled at their base. Too far away in the distance to be made out clearly, flocks of small creatures flew in great swirling formations.

If it hadn't been for the sky's strange tint, making everything a hundred different shades of red, Alex could easily have believed this place might very well have resembled Earth in prehistoric times.

Sarah took her hand back from Alex's to concentrate on the ship's holographic controls. It left him with a weird feeling of loss, even as the warmth of her hand lingered on his.

Drinking in the spectacular sights as the craft slowly descended, Alex watched the ground come up to meet him as Sarah brought the ship to a gentle landing in a small clearing where the forest ended and the lake began.

Taking his lead from Sarah, Alex got out of his chair and followed her to the ship's hatchway.

"Here take this," dipping her hand into a concealed pocket around the waist of her suit, she produced a small pill, which she handed to Alex.

"What is it?"

"It will help your system to metabolise the different air out there," she explained.

Alex popped the pill into his mouth, before he had a chance to swallow, it dissolved instantly. A warm tingly sensation coated his mouth, before travelling down his throat and into his chest. A couple of cautious breaths later he felt satisfied that everything seemed to be working normally.

Sarah walked passed him and touched a small panel on the ship's interior wall, activating the doorway. As soon as a large section of the hull de-materialised, Sarah stepped through with Alex following closely behind.

Yet again, Alex was struck by the breath taking and quite surreal scene. Above the cloud cover raged violently, the sound of thunder faint as repeated flashes lit up the sky.

On the ground only the gentlest of breezes (hardly enough to ruffle his hair) could be felt. The lake they'd landed next to was surrounded by a huge mountain range. Its red waters lapped at the darker red of the coarse sandy soil. There was plant life everywhere, so many shapes and sizes, with leaves in a hundred different shades of reds, pinks and purples. The air smelt wonderfully fresh, the rich mineral smell of the lake adding to the heady mix of the scents coming from the strange vegetation.

"I thought water is meant to be extremely precious," Alex said staring out at the lake and remembering what Sarah had told him not so long ago.

"It is... this planet belongs to the Guardian," she replied sourly.

"I take it we're allowed to be here?"

"No, it's strictly forbidden, but I wanted you to see what you're fighting for, it's not just about your home, or saving us from tyranny and oppression." She moved closer to him, looking up earnestly into his face, "but freedom ... the simple freedom to look upon a scene like this."

Reaching up she placed her hands on either side of his head, gently she pulled downwards until their faces were only inches apart. Before Alex realised what was happening their lips met. Although not totally inexperienced, the passion with which Sarah forcefully moved her lips against his was slightly intimidating. He felt her tongue suddenly inside his mouth, exploring, before pushing further in.

As Alex awkwardly tried to put his arms around Sarah, a hand accidentally brushed against the swell of her breast. Alex froze, expecting some sort of discouraging reaction from Sarah, if anything quite the opposite happened, she kissed him even harder. Alex tentatively moved his hand back, gently cupping the firm mound through the material of her suit.

A high-pitched siren blared from inside the ship, making both Alex and Sarah jump. Reluctantly they broke apart, Sarah stepped back slightly, a smile on her flushed face.

"That's a proximity alarm, there must be a patrol vessel close by, we best go," but rather than moving towards the ship, she merely stood where she was. "I'm going to need that back."

Realising his hand was still clamped onto her breast, he let go, grinning sheepishly.

Grabbing Alex's now free hand, Sarah quickly ran, pulling him behind her and jumped into the waiting craft. Within moments of boarding they were in the air and heading straight for the red clouds.

### Seventeen

Standing with Sarah at the entrance to the grand arena in the semi-darkness, Alex absently plucked at the straps of his new clothing. When he'd first tried on this garment and looked in the mirror, he'd been impressed at how it had shown off his body, accentuating the curves of his muscular frame. Thin black strips of material criss-crossing his upper torso, skimpy black briefs with more strips crossing his thighs, it looked amazing, Sarah had thought so too. Now though, combined with the nerves he felt, the new clothes were just irritating.

Sarah also showed signs of nerves as she stood beside him, shuffling her feet and constantly worrying her lower lip with her teeth.

Through the sealed entrance, Alex could hear the muffled roar of a huge crowd. Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift, his thoughts returning of their own accord to the recent trip to red planet.

Apart from the turbulent passage through the clouds, the rest of the journey back to Bessilyn had been uneventful. Whatever triggered the alarm was nowhere to be seen.

Sitting next to Sarah, Alex couldn't help staring. Her exotic alien beauty was more apparent to him now, than at any other time. The brief physical intimacy seemed to have magnified his emotional connection with her. The feelings he had for her now were far deeper and more powerful than anything he'd ever felt before.

Was this love? The warm glowing sensation that saturated his entire body as he watched her at the ships controls, made him think it might be.

One thing he did know for sure, whatever was to come, he'd do everything in his power to keep her safe.

Nearing Bessilyn, Alex's inner contemplations were interrupted by the sight of tens, if not hundreds of craft orbiting the space station.

"What?" Alex leaned forwards in his seat staring at the gathered ships.

"Don't worry that's a good sign, it can only mean that a big contest has been scheduled. Which also means an audience with the Guardian for the winners afterwards."

They both turned to look at each other. The end was now in sight.

The arena entrance opened, a red glow filled the passageway as the doors slid apart, bringing Alex quickly back to the present.

"Good luck!" Sarah threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely before stepping back.

Walking the few paces to the open doorway, Alex had to dig deep down to steady himself, as the nerves really started to kick in. Trying desperately to tap into his courage reserves, he tried to fill his mind with thoughts of his family, but the memories that came to him were fuzzy and indistinct. The only clear image was of Sarah, so clinging to that instead, he moved out into the arena.

Vast, mind boggling, the surrounding tiered walls, so packed with beings (it looked like a swirling sea of colour), rose to an unbelievable height. The scene was so alien, yet so familiar.

The solid barrage of sound from the masses vibrated the very floor he stood on. Alex recalled images of the coliseum he'd once seen in a documentary. It reminded him of this arena, except the ancient Roman relic would have been dwarfed by this.

The arena's pristine white floor was roughly the size of a football field, but the sheer scale of its upwardly spiralling walls, radiating up and away out of sight, was what really left Alex breathless. No roof adorned the top, just the view of the stars and the giant planet towering above, its glare bathing the whole scene in red.

Silver spheres, exactly the same as the ones in the last arena hovered overhead. He'd been right about their function, according to Sarah they were a sort of camera.

Alex realised why this whole place suddenly felt so familiar. He'd seen all this before, the first time he'd used the viewing band.

A loud, echoing combination of high-pitched screeches and long low tones abruptly rang out. Guessing this awful noise must be some kind of fanfare, he watched as the doors on the other side of the arena slowly opened.

From the darkness of the doorway stepped a black giant.

Standing three maybe four meters high was a thin humanoid figure. Its body covered in small multi-shaped glistening sections. As it moved further into the arena, Alex could see how each of the sections overlapped the next, making its entire body look armour plated. The iridescent shine radiating from these reminded Alex of a beetle's carapace. Its slim head was featureless, just a patchwork of more shiny black sections, like the rest of the body.

In the air directly above Alex, two huge holographic images suddenly materialized, one of him, the other of his competitor. Framing each of these were lines of strange characters. The undecipherable script Alex thought could have been anything from the fighter's statistics to betting odds. The noise coming from the crowds now grew to a new deafening level.

Dismissing the spectacle above him Alex turned his attention back to the willowy black giant. As the being nimbly sidestepped, Alex matched its actions, stepping in the opposite direction to keep an equal distance between them.

The cacophony of high and low tones died away, leaving a single piercing chime which eventually ebbed away too, leaving only the roar of the expectant masses.

The being's torso was so far above Alex that to deliver any sort of blow looked like an impossible task. Even jumping as high as he could, he still wouldn't be able to reach.

Mentally applying his full body shield, Alex moved forwards, intending to go straight for the only option left open to him. If he attacked its legs, then maybe he could bring it down.

Before he even had the chance to get close, the being started shrinking. The whole process took only moments as its body and limbs broadened with each inch lost. When the metamorphosis was finally over, it no longer appeared lean and thin, now it looked more like a squat Sumo wrestler, both legs and arms were now as thick as tree trunks. Looming over Alex at nearly two meters tall, its wide armour plated body gave it the formidable and somewhat ominous appearance of a chieftain tank.

Seemingly out of nowhere a furious barrage of blows had Alex on the floor before he was even aware the being had moved. Its lightning speed was so at odds with its bulky frame that at first Alex was stunned into total submission. His shield soaked up most of the force from the frenzied attack, but he still felt the residual shock waves from each punch. Alex dreaded to think how powerful this thing must be to be able to affect his protective barrier in such a way.

As the crowd roared its approval, all Alex wanted to do was curl up in a ball and wait until the ceaseless pummelling stopped. Instead of giving in to this sudden defeatist instinct, he struck out with both arms, while at the same time lashing out blindly with the force of his mind.

The being rocketed into the air, landing with a heavy thud some feet away. Feeling quite shaky, Alex got to his feet as quickly as he could and stumbled over to where it lay.

Almost immediately it began to get up, it looked unhurt, but with only a mosaic of patches for a face, it was hard for Alex to be able to tell for sure.

Taking full advantage of the situation and before it could rise fully, Alex aimed a kick at the thing's mid-section. Concentrating hard he unleashed a brutal mental blast to coincide with the movement of his leg. Once again the impact smashed the armoured being off its feet. And again it instantly levered itself up, only this time seeming to struggle slightly.

With a small stagger, it stood upright, several sections of armour around its middle were cracked and leaking a blue fluid. Watching it stumble again, Alex grinned to himself, his spirits soaring. A couple more shots and this thing was history.

It was obvious the crowd didn't share his sentiments as the noise echoing around the arena had taken on a decidedly unfriendly and jeering tone. Alex could practically feel the waves of hate coming off them. Trying to ignore the crowds and just get this over and done with, he prepared to finish the fight.

However his new found confidence was short lived. In the momentary distraction of the crowds heated reaction the thing standing before him had miraculously healed itself. The damaged sections of armour were as good as new. Apart from a few residual smears of blue fluid, there was nothing to show that it had received any injuries.

In a blur of movement its four thick fingers were locked around Alex's throat, yet again its speed had taken Alex totally by surprise. If it hadn't been for the shielding protecting him, the vice-like grip would probably have crushed his wind pipe flat. With one fluid movement Alex was lifted into the air and smashed onto the arena floor.

The crowd erupted ecstatically as Alex was pinned to the floor, seemingly helpless as blow after blow rained down on him again.

Grabbing hold of the hand clamped on his neck and punching out with his free hand, Alex's mind simultaneously locked onto its arm while launching the rest of its body backwards with a powerful thrust.

Alex took no notice as the crowd roared its disapproval.

Sitting up, the severed arm felt incredibly heavy in his hand. The similarity of this image brought back the recent painful memories of Paul. Desperately he pushed the thoughts away before they could overwhelm him further. This wasn't the time for more brooding, he had to concentrate on the job at hand and finish this. Throwing the arm aside, Alex got to his feet, determined now to put an end to this once and for all.

Expecting to see the armoured figure tottering around on its last legs, Alex watched with a sinking sense of despair as right before his eyes a new arm began to sprout from the ragged wound at its shoulder. Reminiscent of a scene from a documentary featuring speeded up time lapse photography, the new limb grew like a tree root. Rapidly reaching its full length, the arm thickened, armour plating formed along its surface and visibly hardened to a black sheen. With a quick flex of its new arm, it dove at Alex, smashing him back to the ground with enough force to leave him breathless.

This time rather than resort to pummelling him again, it gripped both of Alex's wrists in its large hands, and with the obvious intentions of giving him a taste of his own medicine, proceeded to pull them in opposite directions.

His shoulder joints protested as the first prickles of sweat dampened his forehead, with all these strenuous exertions the heat inside his fully enclosed body shield was beginning to build. Inspiration suddenly struck Alex like a bolt of lightning. This thing seemed impervious to any type of physical assault, but maybe there was another way.

Employing the method he'd first used on the mountainous furry beast encountered on the desert planet, he sandwiched his attacker between two opposing barriers.

Alex's shoulders practically sighed with relief as the pressure was suddenly released. Reaching up, from his position on the ground, Alex pretended to grab hold of its neck and standing up dragged the trapped being upwards.

Although having to stretch his arm as far as it would go. It did appear as if Alex had it around the neck and was fully supporting it with just one arm. The only problem was that the being was now frozen in a sort of crucifix position. With a quick mental adjustment Alex curled the edges of the force fields inwards, simultaneously bending the beings arms and making it look as if it was now holding onto Alex's neck as well.

Satisfied with the staged scene of virtual deadlock between them both, Alex enacted the rest of his plan. Recalling how he'd done this once before, Alex concentrated on an unseen fixed point he judged to be just inside his now immobilized adversary. Focusing hard, Alex began to alter the being's internal temperature, with deliberate control he slowly envisioned the heat rising.

At first nothing happened, but as Alex continued edging the degrees of heat higher and higher, pushing them into more extreme ranges, things started to happen. Small cracks appeared on the sections of armour around its middle. These instantly healed, only to reappear larger each time, blue liquid bubbled out of the damaged sections, running down its sides.

Glad that this thing had no features with which to demonstrate its pain, Alex nevertheless felt a great sense of shame at his actions, but there was no way he could stop now.

The cracks slowly stopped mending. Blue fluid seeped freely from every part of its body, including the armoured plating of its face. Little by little Alex relaxed his minds grip on both the forces controlling the restraining barriers and internal temperature. Gently he guided the ruined body of the dead or dying being onto the floor. Stepping back he watched as the still body slowly began to change. Its limbs and torso lengthening until it once again resumed the shape it had originally been upon first entering the arena.

Turning his back on the now pitiful sight, Alex suddenly became aware of the utter silence. Making his way back to the exit and Sarah, trying not to appear to hurry, he felt the weight of uncountable hate filled stares bearing down on him.

### Eighteen

If Alex had been nervous before, then this churning ball of acid replacing his stomach, felt a hundred times worse. At least he had Sarah to keep him company as he stood outside the two huge interlocking doors of the Guardian's private rooms. She seemed quite calm compared to him, which helped a little.

On his way to the Guardian's chambers, a worrying thought had begun to niggle him. What if someone checked his armoured adversary's body, or even scarier still, carried out an autopsy on it.

Sarah laughed at the idea, nothing of the sort was ever done to the bodies of the fallen. At the very most there might be some kind of funeral ceremony, depending on the popularity of the competitor involved.

Alex guessed that his last foe fell into that category. Sarah nodded when he said as much, making a weird warbling sound ending in two clicking chirps of her tongue. The competitor's name, she explained to Alex's quizzically raised eyebrows.

Upon reaching the doors to the Guardian's private rooms, all conversation dried up. Both of them retreating into their own worlds, waiting in silence for what was to come.

They didn't have to wait long, as a low buzzing tone rang out and the doors slid smoothly open.

A tall figure, wearing a long flowing dark grey cowl, stood just inside the doorway. The cloak's hood protruded so far forwards that it's face was totally hidden from view, revealing only a shadowy darkness where it's feature's should have been. Although totally covered in the loose folds of the cloak's material, Alex's first impression was that of a thin human-like creature. Was this the Guardian?

Feeling a slight sense of disappointment at the unassuming being standing before him, Alex glanced at Sarah. With an almost imperceptible shake of her head, she indicated this wasn't him.

Stepping back, the hooded figure motioned for them to enter, it's slow and graceful movements seeming somehow all wrong. A couple of paces in and Alex was close enough to clearly see that whatever was underneath the cloak was not the least bit humanoid in shape. Turning to lead them along the dim hallway, Alex saw the strange bulges and angles of its hidden form underneath the grey material.

He'd seen so many weird and wonderful creature's that he wasn't sure at first why this one in particular filled him with such a sense of unease.

As they followed the shuffling figure, Alex slowly realised why he'd reacted with such a feeling of anxiety towards the being. Of the many strange aliens he'd seen, not one had covered themselves so totally. It wasn't the

creature itself that Alex found disconcerting, only that it's concealment left his mind free to imagine any number of horrors that might be lurking beneath the grey shroud.

His imaginings were cut short as both he and Sarah arrived in a large hexagonal chamber. Although not much lighter than the murkiness of the interconnecting hallway, he was able to make out most of the room. Thick struts stuck out from its walls, these structures were spaced at regular intervals around the room, travelling from the floor to its concave ceiling. The whole effect made Alex feel like he was inside the corpse of some giant beast, looking outwards from its colossal ribcage.

The cloaked figure moved to stand by the wall. It wasn't until that moment, Alex saw a number of other similarly dressed figures positioned around the room's perimeter. The greyness of their garments, mixed with the dimness of the room all added together, making them blend in with their surroundings.

Whether it was because of his escalating nerves or just the situation itself, Alex could definitely feel the tension in the air. Not knowing what he should do now, if anything, he looked at Sarah, hoping to get some help or at least some small reassurance. Sarah seemed absorbed with watching the other indistinct occupants of the room, even when he quietly cleared his throat he received no response from her.

Alex was sure a section of wall between two of the rib structures was missing. The more he concentrated on it, the more certain he became. There'd been no sound of doors opening and he'd seen no movement, but he was convinced there was an opening there. The problem was the room was just so dimly lit, it was so hard to tell for sure.

Something caught his eye, something in the darkness of the opening, watching closely he saw a definite flash of movement. A large undefined shape slowly emerged and moving smoothly forwards entered the room. This time Alex didn't need clarification from Sarah, the atmosphere in the room abruptly changed with the new arrival. Instantly he knew he was in the presents of the Guardian.

Gliding closer to Alex in an almost fluid motion, the huge undefined shape began to take form in the weak sickly light. Enclosed inside a hovering platform constructed of slim metallic interconnecting rods, the Guardian stared out at Alex.

It looked to Alex as if the main purpose for the surrounding scaffolding was to support the vast expanse of its misshapen head. Alex was reminded of the model of the blue whale he'd seen suspended from the ceiling of the British National History Museum. The similarity between that image and this creature's head were striking. Stretching over this massively swollen, grey surface ran a network of wrist thick veins, even in the poor light they could clearly be seen pulsing. The face itself was tiny in comparison to the rest of the bulbous skull. Small black slit eyes stared out from their sunken pits, while its brow and cheek bones protruded alarmingly. As it continued to stare down at him, Alex could hear rasping inhalations coming from the partially open crack of its mouth. Its grey parchment skin giving the impression of unfathomable age.

The Guardian's shrunken child-like lower body looked like a redundant appendage. Dry and shrivelled it sat motionless, supported in the maze of the platform. Swathed in a sort of toga style of loosely creased black material, its thin wasted skeletal arms and legs poked out from the folds of cloth, seemingly too long for its short torso, they hung down limply.

With its face level with Alex's, he was left with little choice, but to return the Guardian's intently scrutinising stare. As their eyes locked, Alex felt slightly disoriented, like he was looking into the timeless depths of space itself. The alien eyes seemed to bore into very depths of Alex's mind, leaving him feeling naked and exposed.

Tearing himself away from the transfixing gaze, Alex made a point of looking everywhere else, except back at the strange probing eyes.

"The Guardian congratulates you on your victory," Sarah's words echoed around the room although she'd spoken quite softly.

Before Alex had a chance to respond, Sarah continued, obviously translating the Guardian's thoughts.

"He is unfamiliar with your species and would be interested to hear about you're... Alex he knows!" Sarah screamed the last three words as she was suddenly ripped off her feet by an unseen force and hurled backwards. Slamming hard into the back wall, she slumping motionlessly to the floor.

Turning from the sight of Sarah's crumpled form, hoping she was alright, Alex released a furious mental blast. With no need now to disguise or constrain his abilities he unleashed an unrestrained powerful surge, allowing it to spread out into the room in pulverising lethal waves.

The gathered hooded beings were smashed against the walls with such force that the sound of shattering bones was almost deafening.

Ignoring these now unmoving crumpled bundles of grey cloth scattered around the floor, Alex turned all his attention back to the Guardian.

Unaffected by Alex's first attack, it stared at him with its dark emotionless eyes. With renewed vigour, Alex launched another barrage, this time concentrating as hard as he'd ever done before. What was left of the cloaked figures repeatedly bounced off the walls as if caught in a fierce whirlwind, their ruined bodies leaving dark smears as they were smashed to pulpy rags. The Guardian however remained motionless.

Breaking off the attack and for the first time breathing hard from his exertions, Alex looked into the cold black eyes. Employing his body shield, he readied himself for the inevitable retaliation.

Nothing happened; the only noise in the room was the whispering of its breath. As the seconds ticked by, Alex felt himself became more and more agitated at the Guardian's lack of action.

From the other side of the room Alex heard a scraping sound as someone shifted their position, Sarah's pained groan accompanied the noise. At least she's alive, Alex thought to himself, relieved. He didn't dare turn to look to see if she was injured or not.

The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end and an odd crawling sensation filled his skull. His mind felt frozen as emotions of compassion and pity were generated out of thin air, replacing his own feelings. A mirror image of himself abruptly appeared before his eyes.

Disorientated by the loss of his senses, it took a few moments to figure out that what was happening. He began to understand why he was looking at his own refection. He was seeing himself through his enemy's eyes. Fear gripped him with the realisation that the Guardian had initiated a link with him somehow. Inserting its own vision and feelings, overriding Alex's thought processes.

Although still retaining awareness of his physical body, Alex felt total helplessness as his mind was usurped and infiltrated. As horribly intimate as this invasion was, Alex felt no malice, just an overpowering sense of benevolence.

"Alex don't let him get inside your head, he..." Sarah's warning was cut short by her ear splitting scream.

"Please Alex... the Guardian," Alex could hear the pain in her voice. "It hurts... help me... Alex help me..." she begged weakly before screaming again.

Anger instantly flickered inside Alex. The anguish of Sarah's plea seemed to loosen the Guardian's paralysing hold on him. He couldn't let this monstrous alien hurt Sarah, he had to fight back. As the rage grew, the connection with the Guardian diminished. It was as if his furiously boiling emotions were giving him the strength to resist.

Struggling to sever the link and regain his own sight, the ghostly superimposed image of himself still remained in front of him. His anger overflowing, at last ripped him from the alien's grip. His head cleared of the false feelings, leaving him with blurred, but sufficient vision to see his enemy.

The instant he was free, Alex turned the full weight of his mind against his adversary. The projected blast combined with his fury, exploded out of him with such a force that it shook the very room. This time the Guardian visibly shuddered inside it's supporting cage of scaffold poles. Its black eyes seeking out his, as if silently pleading with him to stop. Feeling no remorse for this power hungry evil alien, Alex redoubled his efforts.

Apart from the mind link, it hadn't really launched any counter attacks. This didn't seem like the kind of behaviour he'd expected, especially after all the descriptions he'd had at length about the Guardian from Sarah. Putting these thoughts quickly to the back of his mind, he began to push himself beyond anything he'd done before.

Straining harder than he'd ever thought possible and still hurling waves of battering force, Alex now elevated the temperature around the alien. Through the heat haze he could clearly see the outline of protective shielding surrounding the swollen headed creature. If this was anything like his own shielding, then this was going to be a major problem.

"I... I think I'm dying..." he heard Sarah whimper from behind him. The strained words tore at him so deeply he thought the sudden agony would rip him apart.

Summoning up everything, Alex felt his mind literally stretch as he channelled every bit of strength, expelling the force with such violence it threw him off his feet.

Great gaping cracks raced up the walls, large chunks fell from the ceiling. The interlocking poles supporting the

Guardian warped and buckled under the intense heat. The collapsing frame dropped to the floor in smouldering heaps, leaving its occupant hovering in the air, still unaffected by the chaos around it.

Thoughts of Sarah, spurred Alex on to push himself even harder. Using every last ounce of effort and concentration he released such a powerful wave it catapulted the Guardian backwards. Its bulbous head smashed against the wall with such force it exploded like a ripe watermelon. As the splash of gore showered the room, Alex felt something burst inside his own head. Suddenly all sensation ceased, his powers abruptly stopped as a feeling of numbness spread through his body. Unable to move, he slid uncontrollably from his knees to a crumpled heap on the floor. Something was seriously wrong, he'd obviously suffered some sort of brain injury, trying to stay calm, he weakly croaked Sarah's name.

When no response came, Alex started to panic, scared not just for himself, but for Sarah as well. He called her name again, this time managing to raise his voice a little.

Relief surged through him when Sarah's face appeared over him. His spirits soared at the sight of her kneeling down beside him and leaning over, so he could see her more clearly.

"Is the Guardian dead?" Alex was sure he was, but not being able to turn his head and look, he needed to hear her confirm it.

"Yes," Sarah answered in a strangely flat tone. Alex felt immediately worried that she may be injured or hurt, which could explain the reason why she appeared so deflated. Something else that was also quite strange, she didn't appear to be suffering any ill effects from her recent ordeal either.

Alex was just about to ask what was wrong, when

Sarah's expression changed. Her beautiful fairy features twisted into a mask of such hatred, Alex was shocked into silence.

"Yes he's dead," she laughed, her eyes full of venom as they stared into his. "It's a shame, he was responsible for such a lasting peace. Well now we're free to do as we please."

"I... I... I don't understand" Alex stammered, Sarah laughed again, only this time apparently at the utter confusion on his face.

"Well I suppose I should thank you Alex. If it wasn't for you, the only being capable of holding all the rival factions at bay and keeping some semblance of control and peace, would still be alive." She turned to look at where the Guardian's body now lay. "I must admit I wasn't sure if you could do it, I should have had more faith in you." Alex looked up at Sarah in bewildered silence.

"I was quite surprised at how easily you were manipulated. Obviously you didn't know the true nature of the Guardian, although the name should have given you a small clue." She turned towards him once more before carrying on. The smugness written all over her face and the gloating overtones in her voice showing just how much she was enjoying the act of enlightening him.

"The Guardian only allowed the games - a remnant of a distant time - to continue as a concession to the more violently natured of us. Apart from upholding the traditions of meeting with the winners, he wanted nothing to do with the games. But what was really shocking was your ridiculous feelings towards me. It's been quite a struggle to play along with the absurdity of it." She laughed again.

Alex never thought the sound of laughter could cause him so much pain. Everything he'd endured, all the suffering, this simple noise made him feel agony on a whole new scale. He didn't know what hurt worse, the lies, the betrayal or her total indifference towards him. Closing his eyes, he miserably wished she'd just leave him alone.

"By the looks of you, I don't need to carry out the final part of my plan."

Hearing Sarah's voice move upwards, he opened his eyes to see her now standing and staring down at him. Her face was fixed with an expression of such hardness that she'd become almost unrecognisable. In her hand she held a small knife, with a flick of her wrist she tossed it aside.

"I think that last effort pretty much finished you off, which saves me the job." Without a second glance, she turned and left.

Disappearing from Alex's line of sight, he listened to her fading footsteps until there was nothing but the silence of the room.

A wave of dizziness came over him, closing his eyes again, small pin picks of light slowly filled the blackness. A calmness slipped over him, it felt like he was once again staring out into a sea of stars. Gradually the lights grew dim, as darkness replaced everything.

### Nineteen

Lying on his back and looking upwards, Alex stared at a white rippled surface, a blue lampshade with an opaque bulb at its centre hung down from the middle of what was obviously a ceiling.

Alex's confused mind struggled to understand what on earth was happening. A moment ago he'd been lying a few feet from the Guardian's dead, ruined body and now all of a sudden he was here (wherever here was) looking up at something that was strangely familiar. His eyes desperately searched the room, trying to find any clues to give him some idea as to what was going on.

Even though it wasn't overly bright, he could make out quite a lot, as the curtains on one side of the room weren't entirely closed.

Curtains? He couldn't remember ever seeing curtains anywhere on Bessilyn.

The gap between the two pieces of dark blue material allowed a small sliver of pale light to shine in, partially illuminating the room. Taking in more of his surroundings, he noticed that the showering device wasn't built into the wall, but was propped up on a nearby cabinet. Beside it was a slim black box with smaller colourful packages littered on and around it.

A slowly dawning realisation crept up on him as to the real nature of these items. A television, games console and games cases. Again the sensation of familiarity gnawed at him.

Everywhere he looked he saw more things to make him feel like he should know this place. Posters on walls, clothes dumped unceremoniously on the floor, a bedside table complete with alarm clock and half-drunk glass of water beside it. This was his bedroom! He was home!

The suddenly truth hit him like a tsunami, washing over him, robbing the very breath from his body. Closing his eyes and gasping, he laughed out loud as yet another smothering wave swept through him, only this time it was a feeling of total euphoria.

Home at last!

But it made no sense. A horrifying thought struck him, maybe this was a dream, maybe he was still back on Bessilyn even now, still injured, and all of this could just be his fevered imagination.

Opening his eyes quickly, dreading the thought that he would see the dim, grey, featureless interior of an alien space station. Relief surging through him as he once again looked at the dishevelled mess of his bedroom.

Sitting up, Alex became aware that he was dressed in the pyjamas he'd had on when he'd first encountered the stalk eyed aliens. He also noticed his arms, no longer endowed with stringy tough muscle, but thin and scar free. Swinging his feet onto the floor, he didn't need to lift his pyjama trousers to see his legs were also back to their original lanky proportions.

Getting up he walked over to the mirror which hung on his bedroom door. He looked at the reflection staring back at him for a long time, not daring to believe what he now saw. Utterly transfixed he watched as his hand appeared in the mirror, touching his face as if trying to verifying the truth. The haunted, dead eyed stranger was gone. In its place a young and some might say handsome bright eyed boy gazed back. Alex smiled and the face he'd almost forgotten smiled back.

Reaching out, Alex took hold of the handle and opened the door. Breathing a sigh of relief as the sudden fear that suddenly gripped him dissipated. The sight that greeted him was not of grey corridors, only of familiar carpeted stairs.

As unbelievable as it was, the whole traumatising adventure must have been a dream, there really didn't seem to be any other explanation.

Making his way down the stairs his mind began to replay some of the recent things he'd gone through. His first sight of an alien, the horrendous experiences in the fight rooms, Bessilyn and what happened there, Paul, although it still hurt terribly to think of him. And Sarah, even now he felt a terrible pain at just the mere thought of her.

Of course it was all just a dream. But it had felt so real at the time, how could it be real when everything around him now pointed so firmly to the contrary?

On the bottom step of the stairs, he stopped and stared in silence at the scene in front of him.

Through the kitchen doorway he saw them all sitting around the small table in the corner. He didn't realise until just that exact moment how deeply he felt about his family. Swirling emotions of love and happiness overwhelmed him as he gazed at the three most important people in his life.

His father with a newspaper in one hand and a piece of toast in the other. Engrossed in some article, the toast seemingly forgotten moved back and forth repeatedly, hovering over the plate one minute, then moving towards his mouth the next.

Claire, his eight year old sister, eating her cornflakes and swinging her legs to and fro rhythmically underneath the table. Playing with her fringe, she twirled loose strands of hair around the fingers of her small hand.

Staring at his sister, his mother busily stirred a steaming cup of tea, taking a cautious sip before blowing over the top of it and putting it back down. Looking up she smiled warmly at him.

Alex walked over on slightly shaky legs, sitting in the last empty chair he gazed again at each of his family members in turn. Claire stuck a cornflake covered tongue out at him, then feigned innocence upon receiving a disapproving look from her mother.

Sitting here amongst his family, Alex felt truly happy. He wondered if he should try and tell them about his utterly fantastic dream.

"Do not blame yourself Alex, none of this was ever your fault" his mother said, looking at him over her cup of tea.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He asked confused.

"The fault is mine and mine alone."

"What are you talking about, you're not making any sense mum." An uneasy feeling blossomed inside Alex,

"What do you mean the fault is yours."

"The interference of all lifeforms from primitive planets is strictly forbidden, I should have been more vigilant, I'm sorry," his mother answered sadly.

"Mum?" Although he uttered the name he already knew deep down it wasn't her. Looking into the face staring back at him across the table, he began to suspect that whatever this was, it wasn't real. The recent feeling of elation rapidly dwindled as the realisation slowly sank in that this wasn't home and the figure across the table wasn't his mother.

"What... who are you?" he asked as his happiness he'd felt seconds before quickly soured.

"You know me as the Guardian," what he'd thought of as his mother replied.

"But you're dead."

"The being you killed was only the conduit through which I exist in this universe. Without the physical link my connection to this reality is broken," the Guardian/his mother's image explained. "My inability to resist your attack was due to the extreme age of that being's body."

So many questions raced through Alex's mind, so many things he wanted to know, he wasn't sure where to start.

"So what is this place?" Alex asked after a few moments pause as he tried to process what he'd just heard.

"This place is a construct of your mind, an amalgamation of your memories. You're still back on Bessilyn, it's only the fact that you have such an extraordinary brain that I'm able to communicate with you in this way."

"So this is a kind of dream then?" As the Guardian nodded, Alex turned to watch his sister and father. Both carried on as if nothing was amiss, they seemed quite oblivious to the whole conversation. Looking at them, one question that came to mind above all others.

"What happens now...... will I be able to go home when I wake up?"

The expression on his mother's face changed as if a great sadness had taken hold of her.

"The chaos has already begun, catastrophic events are unfolding even as we speak, each species vying for power in the absence of my influence. The darkness that once ruled will soon be reborn, madness and greed will grow until it consumes all."

Alex was suddenly transported into a maelstrom of violence. The kitchen disappeared, replaced with scenes of unimaginable devastation. Whole planets burning, grand alien cites laid waste, nothing left of them but ruins, their moons shattered, just chunks of rubble orbiting in their dark, smoke choked skies. Great fleets of ships attacking similar vast groups, each side obliterating the other. As the scenes played out before him, each one worse than the last, Alex understood that he was seeing all this in his mind's eye. The Guardian was allowing him see the true horror of the past.

"I don't understand," Alex said stunned and confused when the kitchen eventually re-materialised around him. "What has that got to do with me going home?"

"No planet will be safe; as it was before, it will be again. The savagery of this universe, if left unchecked, will mean the destruction of every world too primitive to defend itself." the Guardian continued as if not hearing Alex.

"You're saying Earth might be..." Alex stopped, there must be some hope, some way to save his home. "But you could stop all this, you did before."

"Without a physical connection to this universe I'm powerless... to re-establish this link it would take a being with a very rare, unique and extraordinary mind, but then only if that very rare being were also willing to sacrifice their life so that I may use their body, then peace could be restored."

Alex finally understood why his question about going home hadn't been answered, and the reason for this whole conversation taking place in these familiar surroundings.

As the magnitude of what was being asked of him slowly started to sink in, he was suddenly overcome with fear. A terrible empty coldness swept over him, as he realised how totally alone he was and how so very far away from home.

"Is there no other way?" he asked desperately.

The Guardian didn't reply, but the sympathy written all over his mother's face was enough to answer his question.

"But my injuries... my head..."

"Those are superficial, easily repaired."

Uncontrollable shakes racked his body as tears welled in his eyes. This was so unfair, everything that he'd been through, everything he'd survived, it all counted for nothing now.

Sitting around this small table was all that was important to him. Looking from one family member to another, Alex felt the nearly unbearable weight of sadness settle over him. Although the decision he had to make was a dreadfully painful one, in the end he really didn't have a choice; the answer already lay in the faces of the three people sitting around him.

A single tear ran down his cheek, if only he could have seen them one last time and not just these memories.

"Will it hurt?"

"There'll be no pain, just close your eyes."

Doing as he was told, Alex felt his mother's soft warm hand on his head, a restfulness descended over him as the hand gently stroked his hair. The sadness faded away, replaced by feelings of calm acceptance. Alex's head sank slowly until it came to rest on the table's surface.

His last thoughts were of how his mother used to stroke his head, just like this, soothing him off to sleep when he was little.

### EPILOGUE

Her name would be remembered for an eternity, hailed a hero for accomplishing the impossible. That in itself should have been reward enough, but she wasn't in this for the prestige. The extremely large payment waiting for her was the thing that really occupied her thoughts.

Sitting behind the holographic controls of her ship, she absently tapped in new coordinates while mulling over the recent events.

For the most part the job had gone well. It had even had some high points. Her idea to pit Paul and Alex against each other in the arena came to mind as a particularly good one. It had been a bit of a risk, but the gamble had paid off brilliantly, putting Alex in just the right frame of mind for her to manipulate him perfectly.

In hind sight she probably should have made sure he was dead before leaving. She'd owed him that much for the time he'd used his powers on her.

Thinking about it now, she wasn't certain why she hadn't finished him off. Maybe she was getting soft or maybe she'd even felt pity for the poor, unfortunate creature. Neither of these explanations felt right. The moment she'd picked up the primitive alien she'd been looking forward to using her knife on him. It had always been her favourite part of any job.

Besides, he'd obviously pushed himself too far and burnt out whatever it was that enabled him to use those strange powers of his. Standing over him she'd felt the difference in him, the aura of strength that had surrounded him from the moment they'd met, was now gone. Dead or alive, he wasn't a threat.

With Bessilyn now far behind, her thoughts turned to her new wealth and what she'd do with it when she got it.

In the time before the Guardian, there use to be a roaring trade in acquiring resources from the less technologically advanced planets. If she were able to find any of these infamous Planet strippers, (who were now all in hiding), then maybe she could finance a trip to the alien's home planet. From what he described it sounded like it had great potential.

Smiling to herself, eager to get her hands on her reward, she increased the ship's speed. Suddenly she felt a presence.

Alex!

How could this be? Even if he was still alive, he didn't possess the ability to be able to reach out to her, and certainly not at this distance.

Only the Guardian had that sort of power, and he was gone.

She tried to block the intrusion, fighting desperately to shield her mind, but the insistent force swept aside all resistance. Alien emotions of sadness and resignation infiltrated her own head, as if she could feel the very thoughts of the presents. The foreign feelings seemed to revolve around some unpleasant task that needed to be done.

She watched helplessly as her fingers moved over the ship's controls as if with a will of their own. With growing alarm she saw them enter the code enabling the ship's self-destruct system.

Screams of rage and frustration echoed inside her frozen mind as the countdown began. Panic quickly set in as she redoubled the fruitless efforts to regain control of her body.

As the final sequence of digits flashed before her eyes, the presence left her. Desperately she lunged for the controls, knowing she was already too late.

The building scream never reached her lips.
