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RETALIATION

Bryan Nyaude

All rights Reserved. The characters, events, and settings of the story are all a work of fiction and a product of the writer's imagination. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Bryan Nyaude

ISBN-13: 978-1495964992

ISBN-10: 149596499X

Book Design by Creative Space

Image Design by Shutterstock.com

Edited By: Jennifer Stowe

Data Contents

Dedications

Last SOS signal

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Book 2 Annihilation

Dedications

I dedicate this book to my family and friends who supported me and believed in my dreams. Thank you for your patience and loving support, you are the inspiration and the motivation that keeps me writing

E556 SOS

->19 June 2984---1600hrs

->Section 8 Delta 4--- Helian Galaxy

->Command Priority level 10

This is Captain Zane. L. Maker of the Planetary Frontier Destroyer requesting emergency assistance in section 8 Delta 4. We are under attack, stranded and surrounded by terror beasts. Our ship crashed upon entry into orbit and we were ambushed by the beasts before we could initiate phase 2. As suspected, Erzat is the original source of the creatures rampaging on earth. The creatures are everywhere and are also invulnerable to our weapon systems. Due to interference from another intelligence life form, the primary mission has failed. Wait, there is something else here, something big and powerful. I don't think we can stop this thing. I repeat we need assistance immediately or we will all perish. Do not use the galaxy bomb under any circumstance, the enemy has a -----!!!!

->Transmission ended.

1

"Everyone, strap in, ETA in five minutes," Lieutenant Jack yelled, as he pressed the panic button on the emergency wire system. "This is going to be a bumpy landing; some of you might not make it."

Oh no! Now why would he say something like that? It was definitely the last thing I wanted to hear echo out of his mouth. Everyone else was in a state of panic as they bolted themselves to their seats, trying every control reboot command possible. My teeth gritted as my stomach tightened heavily. I didn't want to die yet. I had so many important tasks I still needed to do; however, many puzzling complications emerged with the appearance of a fierce enemy we now all dreaded. I firmly clutched onto my seat as my tendons tensed in sheer fear. The sudden epiphany of realizing the inevitable doom was just too much to swallow. The left hull of the ship let out a loud screech, almost startling me to death. I gazed towards it and let out a sigh of relief, when I saw that the interior was still holding. For some unknown reason, we had lost total control of our spacecraft while descending into the alien planet's atmosphere. Most of the control systems were completely malfunctioning as the engines each failed, one at a time.

"The com line is down and so is the moss line unit, Lieutenant," Petty Officer Second Class Michael said, while trying to look calm.

He wasn't fooling anyone; I could literally tell by the running sweat constantly pouring down his head. He glanced around for a second with a confused look before returning to his tasks.

"Looks like we are on our own, ladies and gentleman, so start saying your prayers now," Lieutenant Jack laughed as he watched the monitor, looking unfazed.

"Oh please shut up, Jack," the captain sighed, putting his right hand away from his pad.

"But it is true, Captain. We might just all die and they should know it."

This guy was a maniac, we could all tell that these sudden turn of events were not frightening him at all. Why would someone put him in charge?

Why! Why!

This mission was supposed to be a simple and easy reconnaissance, nothing like this was supposed to happen. Well, based on the plan our commander had set for us. However, it seemed fate had other plans for us. Our primary objective was on a new planet called: "Erzat" which we found a year ago. There were sudden anomalies on the planet that proved to be useful in helping us uncover the mystery of the terror beasts that now wreaked havoc on earth. No one knows how they came to our planet, all we knew was that they were there and conventional weapons weren't killing these things at all. In the last minute, the World Unity Army's Tactical Science Department found something that looked interesting, and here we are. I couldn't believe my life was flashing right in front of me. I closed my eyes for a whole second and opened them, only to realize that this was really happening. This was definitely not just another bad dream I was having, but reality. When I became a space biologist, I never imagined things spiraling out of control like this. Everyone always said that this job was were all the money was; however, they neglected to tell me all the dangerous crummy assignments that came with the title. Maybe, if I had become a doctor, then Rose wouldn't have left me 4 years ago. Oh well, that was a long story for another time.

"T-minus two minutes to impact, people," the captain finally spoke, getting off his chair. He slowly walked towards the main grid screen and held onto the metal rails tightly. "Copski, can you deploy the emergency shuttle from this distance?"

Copski shifted his gaze towards the monitor and typed in some encrypted instructions before saying, "no, sir, we are too high to deploy the emergency shuttle. We are in a low altitude and the gravity of this planet is pulling us in too fast. Everyone, brace for impact."

As Copski was talking, I noticed that the lieutenant was busy laughing like a rabid hyena. Just what was wrong with him anyway? Normal humans would be panicking at a moment like this. I was freaking out of my mind, puzzled and confused as to what to do next.

"Engineers, deploy the emergency super foam and decrease the speed, using the Neos parachutes, in ETA 5 seconds on my command," the captain spoke and got back up to his chair, to strap himself in. "I never expected things to turn out this way at all."

You can say that again; if I had known that this would happen, I would have dropped out of college and joined the circus. I was a really good juggler and a medium skilled acrobat. However, I never told my father I had these skills at all. If I did, he would have freaked out and told me that I needed to study more and focus on my future, instead of enjoying life. Before the terror beasts appeared, I was a senior graduate student working on my PHD at the Aerospace Science University.

Nabits!

I had 3 months left before I was done with the program, which rather irritated me the most above anything. All that hard work and four and a half years worth of research had all gone to waste. But I guess sometimes things happen for a reason. Due to my expertise in space biology, I was enlisted into the Earth Resistance Base, fighting the constantly multiplying terror beasts.

"Hey, Rookie! Quit daydreaming and focus on fixing us a geographical point to land this ship."

I glanced back to see who he was talking and noticed his eyes were set on me. The captain was actually talking to me.

Wait! Why was the captain talking to me at a time like this? I didn't know a lot about geographic mapping. It was probably best not to tell him that I slept through that class since I always came into class tired from gym class. Crap! What was I going to do? The ship was descending down at an even greater rate due to the heavy gravitational pull of the planet.

"Whoa! Whoa, sir! I don't think I am the right man for this job," I quickly answered in a panicked voice. "I am not an expert in navigating a ship this large."

"Well, look around you," the captain growled at me with eyes full of rage. "None of these idiots here right now have any navigational education skills to begin with. I wish the circumstances were different, but you are all we have right now."

True enough! I looked around the compartment at everyone inside—there wasn't anyone in the main cockpit qualified to navigate this ship at the moment, but me. The ship navigator was sick with space anxiety sickness, which I found rather hilarious under these conditions.

"Focus, don't panic," I calmed myself and took a long deep breath of air. "It's easy, all you have to do is just find a small space on the light screen monitor and tell the captain."

No! What if I messed up and ended up crashing all of us to death? Hmm! The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a 50/50 decision and there was nothing to it. If I got it wrong, we would all crash and die, meaning no one would blame me for the accident; and if I got it right, they would praise me for a job well done.

"Okay, Captain," I finally spoke, assuring myself I could do this.

With every passing second I spent thinking, the more the ship tumbled down towards the ground of the foreign planet. Seriously! How could a ship of this magnitude go out of control without warning? I mean, it didn't make sense at all and it defied all logic. Nuts! I got back on task and typed in some instructions on my com pad. A six-dimensional view of the planet showed up on the main monitor, displaying six suitable landing locations and one of them was just directly beneath us. The terrain looked flat enough, although it was covered with a vast array of forestry. We were heading straight for it. But was it safe at all? Suddenly, the ship started decreasing velocity in a constant manner as if something was pulling it up. I felt small tremors beneath my seat; however, there were nothing mild to worry about.

Oh! Now it made sense. The Neos parachutes had been deployed which caused the ship to slow down a lot. The ship let out a loud groan as it tried to level and stabilize itself. Only question remaining was whether it was going to be enough to brace us for the worst or not.

"Engine 12 through 14 are down," an engineer spoke through neon com link that was inserted into the entire crew's contact lenses.

With these devices, we were all connected and could see what the others were seeing at that moment, although we chose not to due to privacy problems at times. From what the engineer was viewing, it looked really bad and beyond minor repair. The interior of the compartment looked completely destroyed as it lay in the ruins of the blazing fire. How could this have happened? The possible explanation was that the planet's gravitational orbit was somehow affecting the nuclear and solar generators that ran our ship. It was an insane theory and probably best to keep it to myself.

"Rookie, anytime now would be good," the captain boomed, sounding impatient, as he constantly rocked his left leg with his fist clenched.

Oh no! He was giving me the evil eye. As I looked back at my monitor, I could not help but feel his raging, menacing eyes looking directly at me.

"Hold on, sir," I said and looked at my remaining option based on the ship's speed. Wait a minute! Why was I doing the navigator's work when I was just a space biologist? Oh right! The navigator had come up with the zero gravity illness and was out for the remainder of the trip. It was rather ironic and funny how the person responsible for navigating the ship was out cold with space sickness. Oh well! It was now all up to me to do his job as far as this mission was concerned. Using the Entrail Zoom Telescope, inserted into the navigational system of the ship, I took a closer look at the ground below us, trying to locate the perfect landing strip. For some unknown reason, I could still feel the captain's eyes piercing through my skull like a magnifying glass. The only thing that kept me from panicking was the great view beneath our falling ship. It was almost too good to be true as I had imagined it would be. What mostly caught my attention was the vast array of trees scattered across the land and they were all blue. I bet after a while that blue color was going to start to irritate me. Candidly, I couldn't imagine living here for a year, the planet just lacked in color.

"What's taking so long, Rookie?" the captain got impatient and growled, knocking me back to reality.

"Here they are, Captain!" I responded and gave him the coordinates for the land site just beneath us, by transferring the information to the main screen linker.

I wiped sweat from my forehead and sighed out loudly, rethinking my choice. I sure hope I had picked the right location, otherwise this was going to be a terrible disaster.

"I sure hope you picked the right location, Rookie," captain commented, scanning through my data.

"My thoughts exactly," I said to myself, readjusting my back towards softer portions of my seat. The captain let out a large humming sound and gave me a nod of approval, before turning towards the corporal.

"Corporal Gatei, steer the ship towards these coordinates and maintain this speed."

Suddenly, a list of the crew's names popped up on the screens, displaying names randomly.

I felt a slight tingling feeling as if something was out of place. It was rather odd that among the crew were some of the most infamous soldiers and mercenaries—going back to 50 years ago. Interesting! This wasn't just another reckon and search mission, was it? I believe there was something much more going on than I was briefed on, in my mission data.

"10 seconds before impact," Corporal Gatei yelled, steering the ship hard right.

There was a loud tremor as the ship shifted in a spiral motion towards the right, engulfed in massive flames. Thin smoke began to simmer into the cockpit slowly, clouding our vision. I covered my eyes with both arms, blinding myself from staring directly into the eyes of oblivion. I heard the emergency super foam erupt from the metal walls of the ship and completely engulf every crew member. The foam was a mixture substance that hardened upon impact, minimizing the damage to the crew and the ship's interior. Without a slight warning, I heard a huge thump and it felt like my head was about to explode. I felt nauseated and dizzy all at the same time, which was something I had never experienced. It happened so fast and hard I barely noticed but only felt it. The ship let out a massive roar as it crashed and kept moving through the ground. I felt it stop after a few hard, long agonizing seconds as everything went silent. Wait! I was still alive; I had survived the crash and certainly hoped everyone had, too.

"Is everyone alright?" a voice spoke through the com link.

"Yeah, we read you loud and clear. How are things down there?" another voice replied, followed by static noise.

"The ship is severely damaged; however, the foam managed to reduce the worst case scenarios. We are now deploying emergency kits and trying to get everyone out."

That was all I heard before the com link became static. My body was in such a shock that it was hard to move, and due to the foam that had hardened around, I was trapped in a state of suspension. Breathing slowly, I felt disoriented and sleepy as my eyes felt heavy. I knew I had to keep myself from sleeping in case the com link came back on again; however, there was nothing I could do this time to stop my body from disobeying me. Slowly, I closed my eyes and fell asleep without a fight.

"Den! Den!" a voice was calling out from somewhere. "Den! Can you hear me?"

The voice sounded familiar like it belonged to someone I knew. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Sidney. He was sitting by my side with a lance rifle on his lap constantly looking behind and in front. His facial expression was strong and determined, as if he had something to prove to everyone.

"We have to go now!" he shook me viciously with such brute force it almost yanked my arm off. "Two terror beasts have been spotted somewhere around here. The earth's resistance has deemed this area a hot zone, and they are going to deploy the Diron robot battalion to battle the creatures. If we stay here, we are going to be in terrible danger."

"Sidney, you are alive?" I asked him, with a surprise look on my face.

"Of course I am, you idiot," he snickered in a comment, looking at me weird.

It was as if I had seen a ghost from my past. Sidney and I were childhood friends; he was the only person I could truly talk to and I thought of him as a brother, so seeing him right now after what happened four years ago was a surprise. Wait a minute! This was exactly how it happened four years ago, in this very same position we were in which meant...

"Sidney, wait!" I yelled at him, as he got up and fired a lance bullet at an incoming terror beast with his rifle. The next thing I remember was the beast charging at him, barely injured, and snatching him away quickly without a moment's thought. I sat there, with my mouth open wide, filled with anxiety and terror.

"Sidney!" I yelled and suddenly I was up again, somewhere aboard a soft inanimate object.

"Don't get up yet or you will slow the regeneration of your damaged arm." A robotic voice spoke to me.

This compartment I found myself in was part of the medical facility, on the posterior part of the ship. It was a relief to see that it wasn't as badly damaged as the rest of the ship was. The interior walls still looked metallic blue, with no sign of a fire ever glazing them

I slowly placed my back on my emergency regeneration bed, and turned my head to look around. The whole room was filled with injured people who were in a much more terrible condition than I was, which made me realize that I got off lucky. I felt a tingling sensation in my right arm, followed by a slight acute sense of pain. I turned my gaze right and looked down at the arm. It had been severely shredded just up on the upper region of my bicep muscle. The tendons near that region looked completely torn and damaged. This explained the loss of strength and the ability to rotate my forearm. Fortunately for me, the neon alpha particles spread around the entire room helped catalyze the cellular regeneration to my arm tenfold.

"Who is Sidney?" Someone spoke to me, and I quickly glanced back to see who the voice belonged to.

Whoa! What was she doing here? Please anyone, but her. My heart raced quickly as I felt a surge of adrenaline feel my body up. This day just kept getting worse and with each passing hour. It had been at least five years since we spoke, I think.

"Janet!" I spoke in shock; my heart was starting to race in heavy loud beats. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that a trick question?" she responded to me while sitting up on her bed. "You know that the top experts in the science field were all chosen to go on this mission, and I happen to be one of them, although I can't say the same about you."

"I see," I chuckled and looked away, trying to suppress my emotions.

I guess some people never changed, even if five years or more passed. Janet and I had been classmates during our graduate studies way, before the terror beasts had arrived. She was always one score ahead of me on all of our tests and I truly never knew how. We had a history between us; although, I prefer not to go deeply into it. She definitely still looked as good as she did back when we were classmates: that's for sure.

"So who is Sidney?" she asked again, folding her arms and looking at me with such piercing hazel eyes. "You were crying his or her name in your sleep."

"Breathe!" I told myself, lying motionlessly in my bed, in a dazed manner. "You have no time to mess around with her, remember what happened last time."

"Come on, Den," Janet spoke again with such a soft voice that for a minute, I almost thought of trusting her again. "You can't keep holding what happened in the past against me. Let's start afresh, okay?"

Strange! That almost sounded like the same thing that happened last time—and it was almost the same exact words she said at that time too. I got fooled twice in the past and I certainly wasn't going to let it happen the third time. Definitely not!

"I don't want to sound nosy or something, but do you guys know each other or something?" one of my colleagues, a few beds away from me, asked, looking at us curiously.

Oh no! We were the center of attention again, for the second time in a row, which made me even more furious. This brought back some bad memories I had tried so hard to repress.

"A long time ago," I replied back to him, and slip further into my blankets, to shield myself from all of that unwanted attention.

I didn't hate her, but whenever Janet was around, trouble was sure to be ten steps behind her, almost glued to her. The com link voice box suddenly came online in a static frequency, as the whole room fell silent. We all eagerly awaited to hear the ship status report and any new update on the mission objectives.

"All able bodied scientists report to the center deck," the voice behind it commanded. "The main mission will begin in 10 minutes. Pack your equipment, suit up and report to Gate 7. "

Yes! This was what I needed to get away from Janet and all of my other troubles. I wanted my mind occupied on something else important rather than being stuck in this awkward situation.

"Wait, sir, your arm," a voice went off on my com link. "Your regeneration will stop progressing, if you leave this room."

I ignored the voice and got out of my bed, heading towards the exit. There was something on this planet I was determined to find out with my own eyes.

"I'll see you later," Janet spoke to me, but I acted like I didn't hear her.

She sounded almost sincere, like she actually meant what she was saying although there was no way to be sure. As I entered the hallway, I felt a numbing pain in my arm, like I had been stung by something. It was so nerve wrecking, I felt almost tempted to go back to bed. Sweat poured down my forehead like a small stream of water.

"Focus on the mission," I said to myself in a whisper, feeling the fatigue bear down on me. "Lives are at stack on earth."

My reason for being here was this mission, and I was definitely not going to let a minor injury stop me from doing my job. I began to walk slowly, trying to pry my mind from the unbearable ache. Within a few minutes, I somehow managed to reach the armory room. Strangely, I was the only person inside which was rather bizarre. The planet's gravity was fifteen times greater than that of the earth and the atmosphere was intolerable to sustain human life. Fortunately for us, we had invented war armor suits that could withstand the gravity and sustain our need to breathe oxygen, centuries ago. These armors had taken war to a whole new level and almost brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Their weapons' systems, combined with their ability to allow flight, made them lethal and dangerous. However, against the terror beasts, they only delayed the inevitable.

"Hmm! Okay!"

I walked around the room, glancing at the remaining armors, hoping one would peak my particular taste. I was looking for something different, rare, and with glamour. To my left, I noticed one in a metal glass frame, completely separate from the other armors—it screamed unique and rare. The armor was an old model neon gravity shooter, created in the year 2285, about 610 years ago. Its creator, Dr. Hysein, was a brilliant man of a rare kind. His inventions marked the start of the space battle era. To think that one of his inventions was actually here was something interesting. Equipped with a titanium alloy plating helmet, gravity repelling aluminum wings, chest and shoulder sensory reactors, and optic sensory machine guns; it was the ideal combat armor. Without thinking of how outdated it was, I took it and put it on, while updating the main link monitors to our modern time. The light screen came on as I quickly installed my AI system into the main system of the armor. There were no problems in body movements; in fact, my reflexes seemed more enhanced and quicker due to it.

"Attention to all scientist personnel," the com link came back on; the voice belonged to the captain. "We are leaving in t-minus one minute! Report to the small ship docks on Gate 7 and prepare for departure."

Wait! That was fast, it hadn't even been more than 6 minutes yet. Something was definitely out of place, or something had gone wrong. I quickly glanced through my lab utility case before heading out swiftly.

"Den, my scanners show that this model is not suited for this kind of mission," my AI system spoke to me while linking the sensory scanner to my com link. "This machine is too outdated and not suited for this kind of recon and search mission."

"I know," I responded quickly without making a clear reason; however, there was something about this armor that just felt right.

Quickly, I made a hasty dash, headed to Gate 7 to meet with the others. Once I got there, I was greeted with so many puzzling glances I truly didn't like. Their glances bothered me a lot, but I didn't say anything to them. I walked through the gate, making my way down to hover vehicles. The platform was crowded with people, in armored suits, hurrying to their respective vehicles. I could clearly see our new environment through my visor com screen. The planet was completely blue, showing no signs of life within the vicinity. It was so quiet and the wind in the atmosphere moved rapidly in all directions.

"Have you gone crazy, Rookie?" the captain yelled at me. He walked up towards me, in his bulky dark armor, and shook his head in disapproval. "Why would you pick our ship's mascot armor for this kind of mission? Ah well, it's too late to go change, so board the ship now and prepare to move out."

I could tell by their stares that people were talking about me, but I didn't care since what I had in my possession was something unique and valuable. It was not every day you got to try out something this old and rare. As soon as the captain was gone, I went towards my assigned ship and boarded it quickly. My crewmates and I were all seating laterally from each other, silently going through our equipment. We all knew how important this mission was, so we couldn't leave anything to chance.

"Everyone, link your com links to mine as I will begin to debrief you all on the true objective of this mission." The captain spoke to all of us from another mini patrol hover ship.

I obeyed his orders and linked my com with his, without uncertainty.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," the captain began, "as you all know, we received Intel that this planet is the source of the terror beast invasion on our planet, so you will be sure to see them on this planet. Our main objective will be to locate the heat source our space satellite system picked up a week ago and investigate what caused it. Each team has been assigned with 12 highly trained escort soldiers, equipped with advanced duo propulsion system laser rail guns. You all know your jobs so get to work quickly, once we stop at the recon site. Good luck and make your planet proud. Over and out!"

I was completely taken back by surprise. The planetary government was sparing no expense at stopping the terror beast invasion. Duo system propulsions were pretty sophisticated technology, even for this era. Their 20 hour oxygen tanks were far much more superior to my 15 hour one and the gravity repellant propulsion system was way more advanced and twice as durable. All this meant was whatever we had come out here for was somehow going to change the tide in our war against the beasts. They knew our weakness so now it was time we learned theirs. I looked eagerly outside through the ship's fiber glass, hoping to not see any signs of terror beast activity. The environment looked exactly alike, making it impossible to see the creatures clearly, since they blended so well with everything on the planet.

"Sir, we have six inbound bogeys coming up real fast from all direction," one of the ship's pilots spoke loudly.

"What! So soon, already?" the captain replied him in a harsh manner. "All gunmen, get ready to intercept them, shoot down anything that moves."

Darn! Why were things getting more complicated each time? How could they have spotted us so easily from all directions? I had so many questions and no theories to explain these sudden turn of events. Perhaps this planet yielded something of great interest to these mindless creatures; something valuable enough to make them attack us first. But what could it be? As I looked through the window of the hover ship, I noticed something running really fast behind us. It looked exactly like a terror beast; however, it was much bigger and its big blue eyes were far more menacing. To be able to withstand this planet's gravity, and still keep up with a speeding hover ship, was certainly a great fit in itself. There was a loud bang which shook the entire ship and almost threw us off course. I firmly held tightly onto my seat straps, as I tried to control my heart rate.

"Hey, do you mind moving for a little bit?" a young soldier, close to my age, spoke to me as he loaded three titanium piercing bullets into a x-one sniper rifle. He staggered towards me and demanded I move out of my seat, next to the window. He was rather rude although I was intrigued by the weapon he was holding. The metallic long barrel and 12 cylinder exchange system gave it an edge in long range distance fighting. Completely remodeled with a super recoiler, it could shoot bullets at an average of 30 microseconds per recoil.

Another fine piece of artillery!

It was an older model weapon created by the brilliant inventor, Drus Vegai, of the Ras kingdom. Wanted for his crimes for selling weapons to everyone, even terrorists, he just disappeared from the face of the earth and was never heard from again. So to see one of his weapons, which were banned from almost every continent because of their destructive power, meant that this situation was dire and extreme measures had to be taken no matter what the consequences were. I don't know why, but as a kid I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be as brilliant and famous as he was. Although, in a good and honorable way. However, that changed when I grew up. Time made me realize how hopeless and impossible such a dream was.

"Did you hear me or should I repeat myself?" he spoke again, looking at me impatiently.

"Oh sorry, sure take it."

Without hesitation, I moved away from the position I had been before, and observed the soldier as he got ready to fire his weapon through the window. He adjusted his gun slowly as he decreased the amount of air he took in. The creature was right in his point blank range, giving him ample of time to shoot as many times as he could. I stood there next to him, observing quietly like a curious child.

"D-5000, can you adjust the gun's velocity to match the creature's speed?" he mumbled again, this time not to me.

If it wasn't me, then who was he speaking to? Maybe it was his onboard AI system.

"Okay, perfect," he whispered slightly beneath his breath and fired his weapon.

It was so loud; it felt as if my ears had been ripped off from my head. For an entire second, I couldn't hear anything and I felt disoriented, as if I was losing my center of gravity.

"Don't worry, the feeling will pass," the soldier laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "Was this your first time hearing this gun being fired?"

I shook my head while trying to adjust myself again. I felt lost and confused, as if I had lost my grasp on reality. Imagine if I had been much closer to it then this feeling would have been far much worse.

"You idiot!" he screamed at me, from the top of his lungs. "Why didn't anyone tell me you are wearing an old model suit, not equipped with a durable sound proof helmet? Why of all the suits we brought along did you have to take that one? Were you dropped on your head as a baby?" Perhaps! There was no way to truly answer that without asking my parents.

"Darn! It got back up, at this rate we are history," the soldier commented, while viewing our surrounding with his sniper rifle's scope system.

"Everyone, strap in—we are taking evasive maneuvers to outrun the creatures in t-minus 10 seconds."

"Oh struck!"

That wasn't enough time at all to get back to my sit and strap in quickly. I hurried back to my sit and argued with him to move out. He refused and actually sat in my seat, strapping on the belts in my chair.

Some nerve! I had never met such an arrogant and selfish person before.

"You know you could have just gone and took my empty seat," he laughed at me with such an annoying tone.

Oh! Now why hadn't I thought of that? How could I call myself a scientist and be unable to figure something as easy as that?

"Hold on, everyone, the emergency acceleration system has been activated," the pilot screamed quickly.

Oh no! I was still not strapped into a chair, when the ship suddenly picked up massive speed. The force of the acceleration jerked me back so hard, I hit the back hull of the hover ship without me even realizing it happened. It felt as if my innards were being turned upside down from all that momentum, and my head felt so heavy. Why didn't I just become a doctor? Why! Why! When was this nightmare going to end? While pinned up against the wall by the great force of the intense acceleration, I started to feel the armor suit start to fill a bit strange. It was getting tighter, and at the same time, lighter as I could not explain this phenomenon.

"T-minus 30 seconds till normal speed returns," my com link went off.

No! That was too long; at this rate, my body was going to decorate the entire hull behind me with my organs. I had to do something but what exactly?

"Activate the emergency suit system H3," I yelled on top of my voice, communicating with my AI system.

"Negative," it replied back to me instantly. "That program is not available in this combat system."

Oh no! I had forgotten that this armor suit was a very old model system, not equipped with any of the current systems of the modern time.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Aahh! I was freaking regretting my most recent decision about taking this suit for this mission. The next time something aroused my curiosity, I was going to think twice before making any decisions.

"Show me the suit's current data log, dating back to its construction," I asked my AI system again, trying anything just to get myself out of this mess.

"Unable to comply," it responded to me again. "The armor suit's microchip containing all its construction and command data appears to be missing. Emergency shut down of this system and rebooting is highly advised."

What! No way could I do that at this time, because it meant taking it off and switching the suit's power system off and on directly, on its posterior plating, which I couldn't do when this ship was moving at this speed. Suppose it was possible, but there was no way I was willing to undress in front of all these people, considering how awkwardly shy I got in public. Suddenly, the ship started to reduce in speed slowly as I felt a huge burden being lifted off my shoulders. Had thirty seconds already passed? Whatever the case was, I'm glad it was over and done with. I felt some motion slowly come back to my body. Still, this combat armor was proving to be more of a nuisance than I bargained for. I could see now why no one had picked it up at all in these last few years.

"Okay, crew, listen up closely," the com link came on and I could see a visual image of the captain, through the contact lenses inserted in my eyes. "Due to the ship's tactical maneuver system, we have avoided the worst. All personnel get ready to fight once the creatures move in again. Switch to infrared system and deploy the flash canisters in your suit system, except for you, Rookie. Your stupidity is going to get you killed, so everyone who cares for him should say farewell now because I don't see him coming back to earth with us. In fact, who wants to place bets on the rookie?"

Really! Now that was harsh. I wasn't stupid, and I was going to make it through all this. Yeah, well, one could only hope.

"I wager 10 jenks on the rookie," the soldier, who stole my seat, spoke in such a taunting manner. "I say, he won't make it till resupplies get here."

"You're on," the lieutenant finally spoke, from somewhere on the neighboring hover ship. "He is not going to last 3 days at all. Just look at the system he is using now; the terror beasts will tear him up without even trying."

"Then it's settled, everyone, place your bets. Use your com links to insert your bets and get ready to deploy. We are near our first signal check point."

As I watched the screen, I saw them place their wagers, and most of them thought I wasn't going to make it back to earth. I didn't care—I was determined to prove them all wrong, although I had no idea if I could make such a claim. I went through my armor's system, for the last time, scanning for any other abnormalities and nothing seemed wrong at the moment. Without warning, the ship stopped completely, causing me to fly across the deck and land face flat on the floor.

"Move out, now," the captain ordered everyone, as the hull doors opened up. "All defense squads set a parameter around the area and maintain your post till further orders. All science personnel, follow the beta squad to the target mark and begin recon investigation."

Everyone exited the hover ship. I followed suit being the last one to exit, after I checked my oxygen tanks unit. My scanners were picking up and readjusting to the surrounding moisture and temperature of the planet.

45 Degrees Celsius!

It was bizarre and strange how constant the temperature on this planet stayed. There was no fluctuation in the atmosphere, and the winds blew frequently without any direction. With no sign of any other color, everything was just blue and seriously annoying. I walked slowly away from the ships, headed towards the others, with my weapons and equipment firmly in each arm.

"You're with me," someone snuck up on me in a very proud voice. "I put a lot of money on your survival, so I'm going to have to make sure to protect my investment."

"Gee! What a kind and friendly person indeed, protecting me all for money."

I looked backed to see who it was and suddenly heard a loud roar of a terror beast. The person who had spoken to me was wearing protective head gear, with blue shaded lenses to protect his or her eyes from the harmful rays of this planet. I couldn't tell what gender the person was as his or her black armor suit was very bulky and equipped with massive weapons of destruction. I surely was glad this person was on our side.

"Move now," the person commanded me, pushing me forward. "Go straight ahead and you will meet the other scientists in the vicinity."

"Scanners are picking up five large objects moving towards us," the AI spoke to me. "Threat level is 5, evasion is the most logical option. This combat suit is not at the moment able to withstand threats of this level."

I know! That much I knew already without my artificial intelligence system telling me. The sun was very bright considering how far away the planet was from it. I couldn't help but get annoyed with the environment. It was just as blue as the sky. Everything just blended in well together so naturally. I jogged through blue grass that was almost as high as my shoulders; it was so thick and dense, I barely saw anything beneath my feet. Truly the perfect place for natural predators like the terror beast to hide and ambush unsuspecting prey. The thought of being attacked by a terror beast, in this area, sent a cold jolt of fear running through my veins. A few minutes later, I rendezvoused with my colleagues, who were busy setting up grid perimeter tents and gravity propellers. Several of them were talking casually and unloading their mission setup gear, while others took samples of the surrounding areas.

"Ah, Den, you are finally here," one of them hissed at me, alerting the others of my sudden arrival. "For a second, I thought you had been eaten by a terror beast, meaning I would win the bet."

That voice! It belonged to Peter Crabmark, I could recognize that annoying and irritating voice even in a huge crowd. Man! I seriously could not stand that guy. He not only got on my nerves—he ripped them apart.

Peter was my work colleague, and he was a high level expert in zoology. His theories were to try and understand the terror beasts in order to tame the creatures into pets. Such creatures could not be controlled as they were too destructive. Many attempts to capture them had all failed, due to their incredible speed, strength and toughness. I couldn't even begin to comprehend how many people sacrificed their lives pursuing this impossible goal; all this proved his work to be irrelevant, since it yielded no true progress at all.

"Ahh! I see that the zoo finally let you out of the cage, huh, Peter?" I snickered as I got closer. "I almost mistook you for an elephant in that armor of yours."

"You got some nerve, Den Atmas. How dare you compare me with an elephant, you insignificant fool?"

Peter roared, marking me as a target with the laser system installed in his suit. His armor was far more advanced, and several centuries more powerful than what I was wearing. The laser system was composed of highly compressed protons that discharged out through an optical amplifier. One hit from that could send me into history within an instant. I thought carefully of my next words, since they could probably be my last.

"With that useless armor of yours, I could easily destroy you right now. In fact, allow me to show you."

Oh no! It seemed as if I had shaken a hornet's nest, and now I had to live with the consequence. "Danger! Danger!" my AI screamed, warning me of the imminent danger in front of me.

"Stop, Peter," I roared at him from the top of my lungs. "I was just joking around, please don't take me seriously. We don't have time for this now, terror beasts are approaching, so let's work together for now."

"Well, allow me to make time," Peter chuckled at me as he pointed the laser mounted rail gun system at me, preparing to fire. "Oh, I promise you this is going to be a blast."

Crap! What was I going to do next? As long as this suit lacked its microchip, it was totally useless to me, in terms of combat. I just had to say something to him, didn't I? Peter's sudden temper issues were known throughout the northern part of the city. It was unfortunate indeed he wasn't in jail. How could they let this lunatic join this mission? But considering the situation on earth, I guess they didn't have many options. I felt a surge or adrenaline, combined with anxiety and fear, go through me in an instant. My body tensed with gut wrenching fear as I debated on my next move.

"Guess what?" Peter started again, talking with a loud bass in his tone. "If I destroy you now, I will win the bet. A lot of people will be happy indeed—since most of them bet against you."

Darn! He was right; most people had placed bets on me earlier, so my demise was imminent if not expected.

"Wait a moment, Peter," one of the other scientists stopped him, buying me some time. I watched him move between me and Peter, trying to knock back some sense into the lunatic. "You can't do this without arousing suspicion. Think about what I said for a second, my friend."

"Hmm! You are right," Peter giggled and fired his laser beam at that scientist.

The man was struck so fast I barely noticed it happen until he was on the ground. Smoke erupted from his armor. I glared at him and saw the other guys try to put out the fire that was spreading throughout his body.

"Anyone else care to make a comment?" he roared at them, and then turned his attention towards me. "As for you, Den, I will tell the captain you went crazy and injured this scientist, with your armor's weapon system. I am the one who stopped you by shooting you down. How unfortunate for you to end this way"

Liar! No one would believe that, would they? Where were the guards stationed to accompany us? That's right! They had gone to intercept the creatures, while we went and gathered the data readings. Meaning it was up to me to get myself out of this pinch.

"So now, Den, this is the end of the line for you," Peter growled, and aimed at me again.

"How many times are you going to keep saying that," I lashed out completely annoyed.

I hated it when people kept repeating the same thing over and over again, even if they put it in a different manner.

Fortunately, his laser system took a long time to charge up, only giving me a few seconds to breathe easily. What was I going to do?

Rabbits! This wasn't what I had signed up for when I joined this mission. I wanted to help my planet by doing what I was good at, and not to end up dead at the hands of a maniac.

Note to self: "jobs with the most money are the ones I must avoid, if I ever make it out alive."

"I suggest you run," Peter laughed, bolstering his own confidence with the magnificence power of his weapon system. "It wouldn't be fun, if I just blasted you away right now without as much as a struggle to go on."

Crap! I quickly turned around and started to run away as fast as I could, with no second to spare. The lab equipment and tents along the area made it hard for me to maneuver out of his range quickly enough. In such a desolate world, humans were still not united even when facing a greater and more powerful threat. How were we going to fight the terror beasts, if we couldn't even unite amongst ourselves? I felt something brush against my clavicle, followed by an innate pain that just wouldn't go away. My right arm that had been injured before became so sensitive and irritating that a slight touch produced a much undesired pain. Was this truly the end for me?

"Incoming danger threat level rising," my AI system went off again without warning. "Beginning evasive maneuver process in 5 4 3 2 1."

What the! Nothing happened and I couldn't explain why. If I had to guess, I would say this armor was useless unless a microchip with all its data was inserted.

"Time's up, Den," Peter spoke, hovering above me, using the flight emission jet pack system that sliced up the wind, enabling flight. "It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end. I really hated you with a passion, so it doesn't pain me to do this to you right now."

"Yeah! I can believe that."

Peter had always opposed my ideals and theories even when they were accurate. He was the sort of person who would rather see me fail, no matter what it took to achieve the results, and now I had finally pushed him over the edge. With no more ways to escape, I stood there, watching as my life was about to come to an end again for the second time. I honestly thought that it would be terror beasts that would take my life—apparently I was wrong.

"So long, old friend," Peter whispered and fired a laser bullet at point blank range, aiming for my whole body.

I barely saw it coming until it was too late. My whole body was shook massively apart, completely shattered to the core. I felt a rush of heat go through my every fiber; it felt like I was being engulfed by flames.

Fortunately, I shielded my head in time with my hands to avoid the worst possible situation. However, the ground beneath my feet became unstable and collapsed. I fell into a huge hole that seemed bottomless. My eyes closed automatically, while I reminisced over everything that had happened up until now.

"I really did have a good run," I chucked to myself, before my consciousness faded away slowly: "But what a crummy ending indeed."

"Is this how you want it to end?"

That voice! It was definitely Rose, I am sure of it. But why was I hearing it now? What did those words mean? I knew it was just a figment of my imagination; however, it felt real to me. At that moment, I felt a sudden urge to cling onto what little life I had left, realizing how much I still wanted to live. My eyes opened again, filled with an intense passion for survival. I tried to gain some leverage by grabbing onto one of the walls close to me, but my hand slipped and I kept falling.

"Darn you, Peter," I growled out, with the remaining strength in my mouth before I heard a loud thump.

Everything became blurry; I lost my strength and the will to get up, as I closed my eyes and fell into an unwanted sleep.

2

"Do you know the true value of life?" someone's voice echoed through my ears. "Do you truly know what it means to be alive in this wretched world? Where does your faith lie?"

This annoying and yet powerful voice sounded so familiar to me. I opened my eyes to see who it was, but all I could see was this bright yellow light filled with emptiness.

"Father, is that you?" I whispered into the light, while shielding my eyes with my left hand.

"Have you already forgotten your true objective?" the voice echoed again, sending chills crawling down my spine. Man was it creepy.

"Forgotten what?" I was confused as what it was referring to.

"Wake up, Den," it whispered in my ear and suddenly my eyes truly opened.

Oh! It was just another dream or was it something else? The last time I saw my father was when the terror beasts showed up. He somehow vanished without a trace, but I believed he was still alive somewhere on earth, and I was determined to find him, along with my other family members. That hope was one of the things that kept me going through these hard obstacles.

Wait a minute! Was I still alive? My surroundings seemed very unfamiliar and void of life completely. The last thing I remembered was falling to my doom, when Peter blasted me with his laser system. Man! If I ever saw that arrogant maniac again, I was going to make him sorry. My body hurt a little from fatigue—but aside from that, I was okay. I slowly raised my hand to examine myself and what I saw frightened me. The entire armor had holes in it as the oxygen tank unit had been blown apart. On all possible accounts, I should be dead. The air on Erzat contained a poison we termed Sellium 11. It was almost as heavy as uranium and four times more lethal than mercury. What made it so dangerous was its high affinity to bind hemoglobin, almost three times stronger than carbon monoxide.

How was this possible? There was obviously no way a mere human like me could breathe Erzat's air and still live. What could have caused this abnormality? I believed there was an answer to everything and eventually I would come up with a theory for this anomaly.

"Running a diagnostic check on the system," the AI system spoke up as my entire light screen went blank.

Com link--- no signal

Optic sensors scanning—0005678

Sensory Unit- disarmed

Oxygen reserves—0%

Power supply—16%

Nuclear core reactor--- critical

Weapon system—defective

Gravity control- Stabilizing at 52%

Well, this was the definition of a bad dilemma. I didn't even know that my suit had a nuclear core reactor. It kind of explained why it suddenly felt hot inside of it. The fusion reactor battery must have gotten damaged during the fall, causing it to destabilize beyond minor repairs. Quickly, I started to struggle to take the armor off and throw it away before it blew up; however, something was wrong. The armor had become too tight and wasn't budging at all. The more I struggled, the tighter it became.

"DX 300! Is there a way to stabilize the nuclear core reactor without taking the armor off?" I spoke to my AI, struggling to remain very calm.

"Yes, it is possible; however, the chance of this plan working is 14.5%."

I scratched my arm armor, realizing that my options were limited. The longer I stayed here, the more difficult things would get later on.

"Reveal the plan on my com link screen, please."

Oh! That sounds easy enough—the more I looked at the plan on the screen.

(0000---Ship power supply contains a XT1 nuclear compressor with high propulsion dual system that can neutralize any nuclear power. From last well coordinates and geographical point of the ship, it is a 50 mile walk back. Judging from the level of the nuclear core reactor, only two days remain before armor suit reaches maximum critical levels and explodes. Suggestion- Contact main ship HQ and have them deploy a mobile vehicle to come get you---0000)

The plan sounded simple enough at first, but there was no way it could work, because of so many variables. First of all, I had fallen into a large hole—the size of a sky scrapper, and the crew might have left in order to flee the terror beasts. Or they already thought I was dead and left the planet, if they managed to complete the mission. I moved around a bit and took a long breath of air while thinking slowly. Strange! This air in the atmosphere felt good on my taste buds. It was a truly strange experience and almost thrilling. What did this new world have to offer? Looking around, I saw a glimpse of sunlight, which slowly touched some of my exposed skin softly like a warm embrace. Fortunately, my suit was still operational which is why I was able to move freely, despite the heavy gravity.

"I want an estimate of this hole's depth," I said, speaking to my AI, as I twisted my neck a little.

There was no response for a minute as it was busy doing some calculation.

"Approximately 70 meters to the top," it responded slowly. "The suit's Neos wing propulsion seems to be working; however, only in manual control."

Good! It seemed my luck had not run out nearly just yet. But what did manual control mean? Most of the modern technology had become easier to use and did operations automatically. Manual machinery was more sophisticated to use and it was a pain in the rear, literally.

Think!

"You are a space biologist," I said to myself, closing my eyes and imagining flying. "You can do this! Do you want to be stuck in here waiting for death?"

Promptly, I began to force the Neos wings to move, prying them open with both hands, but they wouldn't move. Irritated, I irrationally jumped up on one foot, plotting to fly and landed down quickly. The planet's gravity was way too strong and kept pulling me back down instantly. I scanned around the walls of the hole to see if I could get any leverage. It was a slight, but promising possibility that I could climb my way up, since I didn't know how to operate the flight system. The armor was supposed to have enhanced all of my physical characteristics to their highest peak, making me almost invincible.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

I just had to go and pick the oldest armor, didn't I? I mean, I could and should have picked up the latest model, which I regrettably didn't do. Surprising fact, the Planetary Government had begun the allowance of destructive armors and weapons in order to combat the terror beasts. Ironically, this government had been formed to stop the wars, and allow humanity another chance for peace. The first thing they did, once they gained power, was destroy all war armors and level 2 and above weapons. Conversely, that all changed when all the first cities in the Eastern continent were destroyed by the terror beasts. It forced the government to take drastic measures, issuing the creation of new war armors and weapons to fight off the alien creatures. These beasts were not discriminating at all; they preyed on everything on earth that moved. What drove them to such madness was unknown, as every attempt to capture the beasts failed. They were unstoppable, possessing the most unique massive replication ability I had ever seen. They budded like fungus, but on a greater and epic scale. Still, how had they come to earth? I mean they were surely not that bright to build a ship, or even create a dimensional portal to our planet, or were they? Maybe, this was a part of their plan, making themselves look mindless in order to deceive and destroy us. Well, I would never know unless I truly found out the secrets planet Erzat was hiding. I had a feeling there was more to this than our superior commanders, of the Planetary Government, had told us. Darn!

"Stop thinking for a second and focus."

I still had to get out of this hole, somehow, and get back to the others. I sighed out loudly, inhaling small breaths of air to conserve my energy. I was about to attempt something that required focus and physical endurance.

"DX300, can you switch all of the power output and concentrate it into the gravity repelling system?"

I slowly moved around, while observing my surroundings carefully. There wasn't much to latch on, so a high charged jump, using compressed thrusters, was my only option.

"Switching power to the dorsal command system, suit equilibrium balance has been off set for the next 30 seconds. Nuclear core reactor destabilizing at critical levels in t-minus 44 hours."

Bending slightly, I amassed enough leg strength that my body could produce, and jumped up as high as I could. Combined with the increased power supply in my armor, I was able to leap even much greater than I anticipated. But was it going to be enough? I felt myself ascend up into the air at intense speed at first, but I slowly began to lose momentum—it was still not enough.

"Please let me make it!"

Judging by how the size of this hole, it looked like this attempt was going to fail. However, by some fortunate coincident or luck, I was almost there to the top. All of a sudden, I stopped accelerating and began to drop again into the dark abyss. I struggled trying to grab onto the wall close to me, but the surfaces were too flat. No! I was so close to getting out, I needed more thrust.

"Darn! I wish I could just fly out of here," I screamed out of despair, from the top of my lungs, to anyone who would hear.

"Voice command recognized," a very unfamiliar cold voice echoed through my armor. "Flight system activated in t-minus 5 4 3 2 1."

What the! I stopped falling from the sky and just began to hover up in the air. I slowly looked down and felt chills creep up my spine, as I was this close to smashing face first into the ground. Phew! All this intense activity was really going to give me a heart attack, if I wasn't careful. Still, I didn't realize whose voice that was, and how I had stopped falling. The better question was how had I survived a laser beam blast to the body, or survived that fall to the bottom of this hole? I didn't even have a lot of scratches, which was another mystery to add into my book of questions.

"DX300, can you analyze and tell me whose voice that was?"

I was curious as to whom that voice belonged to; I also wanted to thank that person for saving my life. I looked closely in my surrounding and saw no one around me. The whole area was silent, leaving only me to my thoughts.

"No data, voice not recognized," my AI system began speaking in a brute manner. "Glitch in the system, glitch in the system. Commencing viral scanning, process will take a few hours."

"I see!"

It stopped speaking and went off line. No! I was now alone with no one to talk to. Suddenly, I felt vibrations throughout my armor suit. Glitch! What did it mean by that? Had that voice somehow introduced a virus into my main suit program, and corrupted my AI in the process? Hmm! It was really strange, but at this point in my journey, nothing could surprise me anymore. I hovered for a little while, speculating arguable theories on how the suit's wing system worked. My hypothesis was that it was voice activated and obeyed only certain commands the user spoke.

"Fly up," I yelled, trying to make sure it heard my command.

Strangely, nothing happened—I was expecting some kind of reaction or something, but for reasons unknown, it didn't work. I kept at it for 10 minutes, shouting many voice commands and yet nothing was happening. As I was about to finally give up, I raised my hands to yawn and suddenly was lifted up high by some immense force. The wings on the suit had begun to flap up and down, tremendously, creating a vacuum of wind beneath my feet.

Whoa! I was flying vertically and it felt weird, and great as the wind hit my visor constantly with a fresh breeze of air. Before I even realized it, I was out of the hole, and I couldn't help, but feel a bit of relief. I put my hands down and the wings stopped flapping without warning, causing me to fall below. I quickly raised my hands up again, and they started flapping, sending me soaring into the sky. I guess I was wrong about the wings being voice activated. I wonder what else I was wrong about.

This armor was truly something else, no other suit had flapping wings for flight. Well, technically, this was actually my first battle armor, so my assumption was limited. Although ancient, in some way, it was better than the latest models. I stopped admiring my armor for a while and began to focus on the important stuff. Now that I was out, I clearly had no idea what to do first. From the corner of my eye, I caught a tiny glimpse of light below me. It was very small; however, it was a start in my search to reunite with my crew. The ground was still blue, although it showed some disturbance and signs of destruction, as if a massive struggle had taken place. I could only hope the terror beasts were not in that area, considering the fact that my armor's weapon system were not working. The scanners, in my headgear, told me that there was a very high heat substance in the area, which I felt was worth investigating. As I dropped my hands down, I began to descend slowly while the armor calculated the coordinates of the object.

Wait! I remembered this area from before; it was the area we had been assigned to study by our superiors. From above, it looked ordinary, but my coordinates about the location were precise. If I was to guess, this was exactly where the satellite scanners had detected some abnormal masses of energy. But where were the others? We were supposed to stay in that area for at least 10 hours and completely go over all of our data. There were no energy shields, and no force field tents in the vicinity. I checked my inboard monitor, which told me that barely six hours had passed since we had crash landed on Erzat. So what did this all mean? These linear specific sets of events were not correlating to our original plans at all. I looked down, beneath me, for anything out of the ordinary to serve as my first clue as to what might have occurred.

The area looked completely vacant, with no trace of residual life force at all. If they were not here, then were they done? My sensory scanners were not picking up any human thermal or armor signatures anywhere.

Darn! Had they left without me already? I landed quietly down on the ground, and began a survey of the area, by releasing a small cube drone linked to my com link. It flew up into the area and searched the surrounding area within a 500 meter radius. But why had my crew left?

Just how long had I been in that hole for? Were the time readings in my scanners offset somehow by the fall? Had something happened to them, while I was out cold? I soon realized my investigations were bringing out more questions than answers. Clearly, not a good start for me. The area around me smelled terrible with the scent of sulfur and particle beam gun powder. The ground was full of terror beasts footprints—by my estimate, there were sixty to eighty of them. From what I observed, on the ground, I could tell that a huge fight had taken place, and it seemed almost one sided. With our weapons being unable to harm these terror beasts, this battle was theirs for the taking. "This is new!"

Scattered in the debris, there were new fresh tracks on the ground that didn't belong to any of our hover ships. They looked like mobile armor vehicle units used in the great salvage war, 500 years ago. I recognized the imprints from the history journals I read as a child. But what did this mean? There were no signs of the terror beasts anywhere or the people responsible for the new tracks. Just what on earth was going on here? My drone signaled me, as it had picked up something and I headed towards it. Strange! My crew had left their hover ships behind and deserted this place. That didn't make any sense at all. Why would they do that? Hmm! I thought about it for a second while in a stationary position. Wait! Could someone have come to rescue them or were they kidnapped.

"Maybe! Nah! There couldn't be another team on this planet, could there?"

I mean, the terror beasts only destroyed everything and were not smart enough to start kidnapping people, were they? Darn! So many questions and with no answer to these puzzling questions. I quickly and cautiously made my way through the debris and rubble surrounding the area, headed towards our small ships. The area was completely silent, a little too quiet for my taste. There was a slight grey bluish color in the sky, which completely fascinated me for a second. Normally, I would want to explain this sudden change of climate, but for now it wasn't important. I approached one hover ship and boarded it, searching for a clue as to what had happened. I wasn't surprised to find no one inside it, or that the ship was still on. Yes! There was a download system, inserted in every ship, which housed the main video system. This system was always operational with over 800000 terabytes in each unit. I opened the arm deck in my suit, containing the screen link cord, and inserted the cord slowly into the ship's main frame system.

"Access video from the last data bank," I said to the hover ship's AI system. "Accessing through Squad Officer Den Atmas, command 000225."

Nothing happened at first, but then I heard a voice reply, "command accepted, and accessing ship analog database."

The entire system logs began to display on my head gear system, as I went through all the data quickly. Oh no! I had been in that hole for more than 25 hours—based on the day and time. Well, that explained a lot, but as for my other questions, that was still a mystery. I typed in some more instructions, allowing me more access into the secured video systems. The videos systems pulled out one of the files dating back to 25 hours ago, revealing every important information I desired. I couldn't stop my eyes from wondering around all over the screens as I tried to careful look through every last piece of detail. It looked like they were outmatched by the superior numbers of the terror beasts.

"Contact headquarters and tell them to bring reinforcement," the captain ordered as weapon systems were being fired all over the place.

Explosions, mixed in with screams, jolted me back as I began to fear the worst. The number of terror beasts kept growing even bigger, and soon, they were being overrun. The blue creatures attacked ferociously at everyone without mercy.

One of the men said, "Captain, our com links systems have been jammed, we have no way of contacting HQ anymore."

"What," the captain sounded surprised, his voice felt shaken for some unknown reason. "This is impossible it couldn't be."

"Captain, look up there," another voice screamed out loud. "Something is approaching really fast."

The video system in the ship began to become static as it went on and off without warning. "What is that?" the lieutenant roared through the gun fire.

There was a strange noise sort of like a horn. I saw the terror become motionless. Unexpectedly, they retreated back to the forest, as a huge ship landed close to the crew. No! The video system went off after that before I could even find out what happened to everyone. What was happening now? This certainly wasn't the ship we had come on this planet with, but actually another. Without any warning, I felt a jolt of pain travel through my entire body so fast I couldn't comprehend it. It felt like an inflammation, like my entire body's mast cells had all been activated and were releasing histamine at the same time. As I tried to get a hold of myself, the pain went through to my head and I fell on the floor, in agonizing pain. Now what? Was my body now reacting to something else in this ship? I felt an unnerving and gruesome pain the moment I tried to move my injured shoulder. But why was I starting to feel this pain now?

Darn it! What was I to do now?

Wait! There was an emergency kit system in every hover ship, so I scanned around for it with my eyes. I located it and slowly crept towards it, using the last ounce of energy in my body. My strength was failing me really fast, and my legs had already gone numb. I didn't know why this was happening to me, but it was probably safe to assume that if I didn't do something about it soon, bad things would happen. Once I reached the emergency kit system, the hull door opened automatically and I crawled in slowly, trying to endure the pain. The pain was unbearable, it was the worst feeling I had ever felt in all my life.

"Crap! You have got to be kidding me."

Another problem emerged, completely irritating me. I had to type in the treatment I wanted, in order for the neon alpha particles to be released inside the compartment. Darn! My strength had deserted me, and I no longer had any energy to get up and type in the instructions as I slowly started losing consciousness. No! This wasn't going to be my ending. I had not come all this way to die like this. With the last remaining willpower, I summoned enough strength into my right arm, and clicked on a button before collapsing down. The temperature in the room fell below room temperature, as the neon particles started filling up inside the entire compartment. They glowed like fire flies across the room, almost as elegant as butterflies on a sunny day. If I wasn't delusional, I could've sworn they looked like they were alive. The pain began to slowly recede, my strength returning, as I held dearly onto my remaining ounce of willpower.

Rose!

Why was I thinking of her at a time like this? Four years had passed since I last saw her. Was I ever going to see her again? I was ashamed to admit this, but I have no clue what her last words to me were. She told me where she was going; however, at that moment, my mind seemed occupied with something else. The moment I realized she was gone, I decided to go after her, however, something bad appeared to prevent this. It was the terror beasts. Darn those terror beasts. They ruined my life completely—it was because of them I had stopped looking for her, got separated from the rest of my family, and lastly, they had stopped me from getting my PhD.

Man! All those brutal hours I had spent studying at the academy, the long essays and tests I had endured and taken for 4 and a half years, were all for nothing. I had been a semester away from my PhD. I guess all of that effort was in vain.

No! Why couldn't I have gone to the beach with my friends? Why didn't I have fun when I had the chance? Rabbits! The anger inside me was strong enough to get me back on my feet somehow. The pain I felt before was starting to ease up, as I regained a portion of my sanity back. Strange! I felt different for some unknown reason. It felt like I had taken an extraordinary amount of energy boosting pills. Just what was this amazing feeling I felt? Oh no! I glanced on the com screen, to see what I had typed in, and saw that I had accidentally released the maximum dose of neon alpha particles. This amount of neon particle release was enough to heal more than 15 people, ten times over, and it looked like my body had absorbed most of the particles. I became scared at what would happen next, considering how lethal a huge dosage of the particles could be on the body and mind. "Oh well!"

There was nothing I could do about this incident so I put the matter aside. But still, one thing bothered me more than anything else. What had become of my crew? The com link was still static, meaning I couldn't contact the reserve crew at the main ship and warn them. Whatever was on this planet with us, had the power to control the terror beasts completely, which was definitely a frightening thought. Perhaps something on this planet was connected to the appearance of the creatures to our planet. Slowly, I sighed and thought to myself on what to do next. Hmm! If they knew how to find our scout units in these thick, blue jungles, then they certainly knew how to find our main ship. Crap! This meant the rest of my crew was in danger unless I warned them somehow.

Without the com link system, there was no way to contact them, and if I signaled them using rocket guided flash canisters, I could attract terror beasts to my location. What a terrible dilemma I was in. But if I could navigate this ship back to the main ship coordinates, I could tell them in person. The sun was starting to fade faintly into the horizon, giving me the ultimate cover through the treacherous forest. Suddenly, the ship scanners began to blink loudly—there was an unknown energy anomaly close by. So it meant they hadn't investigated the mysterious energy signal yet. My options seemed limited.

Aahh! I wish I knew what to do next, because this was getting complicated. I couldn't just leave this place and throw away the efforts of those who had sacrificed their lives to get here. On second thought, I could leave and come back with reinforcements to investigate this mystery. No! If I came back with reinforcements, there was a possibility I would sacrifice more lives. So it was up to me to investigate the strange energy signal. I got up and went to the ship's weaponry dock that was in the next compartment. Inside, there was a vast array of solar based weapons and new model armor, all stacked in an organized manner. I approached one suit and stripped off its power supply battery to replace my old one. Since I no longer required oxygen tanks to breathe on this planet, I didn't bother taking them with me. I also grabbed a javelin bazooka and a lance beam dagger, just as a safety precaution. As I exited the small ship, I activated the new installed scanner system with the coordinates of the energy into my suit's system. The sun was almost gone, leaving a slightly attractive and warming glimmer across the sky. I couldn't hear or detect any terror beasts in the surroundings. The area looked peaceful; nothing seemed out of the ordinary, for the most part. I looked one last time around to see if it was safe, before taking off into the air, heading towards the unknown energy signal. The ascension into the sky was constant, barely lifting me up at vertical acceleration, flying just about 100 meters in the air. The calm, fresh breeze felt good as I could feel and breathe it gently. With this new modified battery, my armor suit's sluggish movements ceased completely. Suddenly my scanners began to blink intensely, revealing a high surge of energy power. The signal got even stronger, the closer I moved towards the source of the energy.

Oddly enough, I couldn't see anything as the whole area was covered by very thick, tall trees. How could an energy signal that large be so undetectable, up so close? Honestly, I was expecting to see something large and magnificent, because this type of energy reading was too great to be hidden. I stopped flying and descended down slowly, as I scanned down for anything unusual. It was indeed the location based on my scanners, but where was the source of the energy? Landing, silently, on a branch of one of the trees, I began a survey of the area, using two small square cubed drones. Based on their readings, the area was free from traps and there was something down below. I quickly jumped down to the ground, once my drones had returned to my suit. It felt like steep concrete, a very odd sensation considering I was on the planet Erzat. I gently held my weapons more tightly and proceeded forward towards the source of the energy. There was a small, faint glimpse of light that quickly caught my eye. I headed towards it slowly, my mind clouded in fear and curiosity. I wasn't sure what I was going to find, although excited beyond a doubt. Wait a minute! What am I doing? I stopped moving and closed my eyes for a second. In that moment, I felt a slight sensation of fear brush gently against my neck.

"This isn't scary, there is nothing here okay? So get it together and find the source," I snapped myself out of it, and began to move forward again.

Every step I took only made the signal much stronger and incredibly intense. With my left free hand, I reached out towards the light, expecting to grab onto something as quickly as I could. I didn't want to stay in this place too long, because for some unknown reason, I kept feeling something terrifying and big was here.

"Unknown energy detected," my AI came back on, making me jump uncontrollably. "Unknown energy detected! Unknown energy detected!"

I was startled for a second as my heart raced wildly. My breathing was wild and heavy like I had ran for miles. Stupid AI!

It kept going on and on, shouting the same thing over and over.

"Okay, shut up already," I said, becoming a little annoyed. "I need to focus now."

Once I got my thoughts back together, I went back towards the light and touched something from within it—it felt round like a sphere and very smooth almost like a diamond's surface. I couldn't see inside as the light the sphere emitted was almost blinding. I slowly took it out and gently examined it closely once the light had faded. It was some sort of emerald crystal with symbols unknown to me.

"You have got to be kidding me"

I laughed at the thought of this little sphere being the source of the energy I had been tracking. To my surprise it was; my scanners were going haywire and reading energy levels off the charts. I honestly thought it would be bigger, or at least heavier than what I was holding. The symbols, however, aroused my interest the most. I had never seen anything like them before.

"DX300, analyze the symbols by matching them with all ancient languages going back to year 1720."

If this was an earth language symbol, my AI would be able to analyze it and make a match any second now.

"One match found" it responded to me quickly, with such a loud frequency, it was almost annoying. "The symbols belong to the ancient empire of Raz, based in the east, between Asia and Africa. It was destroyed in the second Planetary War by the allied Masattereans force. Databanks records show that it was the base of construction for terrible weapons of mass destructions. This particular symbol means war and the other words are not recognized in my database."

Figures! But what was it doing here? Wait! Why was that place sounding almost too familiar to me, like I had seen it before? Before I was done thinking, the ground began to shake tremendously, as it collapsed beneath my feet. Now what? Quickly, I jumped up with my hands raised as I tried to get away and escape the danger. It was at that time, I saw something rise out from beneath the concrete ground. I was shocked and at the same time terrified to look at it. It almost looked like a terror beast, but at the same time, it almost looked like a machine.

"What is that?" I trembled, not knowing how to react.

I had never seen something like this before in my entire life; it looked like a giant lizard, with blue scales and very wide red eyes—it was greatly maddening. The sight of this creature intimated me down to the very core of my being. It looked up towards me, barely moving.

"Stay away," I screamed, out of fright, and fired my javelin bazooka at it.

The proton missile hit the giant lizard's head and there was a terrible explosion, followed by a menacing roar. Fierce red flames engulfed the sky for what seemed like a second; however, that was not enough. The creature had taken a direct hit and came out of the blazing explosion unharmed.

"You gotta be kidding me!" I chuckled slowly, losing my mind from sheer frustration.

I was not discouraged by this action; instead, it fueled my rage towards the brink of irrational, offensive maneuvers. I kept firing the proton missiles, one after another, but all my efforts seemed futile.

Pausing in its tracks, its eyes locked on me, the giant creature opened its mouth half-way. I moved a few yards, in the air, away from it to plan my next move.

"Laser guided system detected," my AI went off, warning me of the impending danger.

"This is bad," I whispered to myself, and began to fly even higher, distancing myself from the monster.

There was no weapon on earth that could evade a laser guided system; the only way to deflect it was with an emission shield or with something of equal power. Since I didn't have that, all I could do was wing it the only way I knew how. But, how was I going to wing it?

"Danger!" the entire suit system echoed with my AI system's annoying voice, and before I could even respond, I felt a beam brush my shoulder.

The monster had fired two laser guided beams, which barely missed me because I was moving up in every direction to avoid its target lock system. The monster lizard roared again and jumped up into the air after me with such unrelenting force.

"What! Seriously, give me a break."

This was really bad, considering its size and massive and unnatural speed. It couldn't be! I think the monster was after the spherical crystal in my pocket. Maybe by taking it, I had activated a defense mechanism which turns out to be this lizard. Perhaps, if I gave it back, the monster would go back to sleep, allowing me to flee. No! No! No! If I did that, then I would shame all the efforts of my entire crew, who risked their lives to get here. Darn my conscience! I guess I was going to keep it and somehow find a way to escape this terrible monster. Roaring again, it shot two more guided laser beams at me with great ferocity. It seemed, it wasn't trying to recover the crystal, but actually destroy it with me in the process. I stopped flying with my wings, by putting my hands down, and began to free fall in the air, in a vertical position. The first laser barely missed me by a few microseconds, but in the process, burned a piece of my shoulder. The second laser was coming towards my location really fast. I was within range of its blast radius. Instinctively, I aimed my javelin bazooka at the incoming beam, and fired a dozen of missiles, hoping to intercept it, by changing its trajectory. It worked as I was able to evade it by a few milliseconds. The monster became even more furious and picked up massive speed, coming after me from above with its jaws open. But how was it flying like that? The mechanism inside this creature was unlike anything I had ever seen or heard of. Whoever created this creature was definitely brilliant. To create such a powerful creature like this, definitely, meant whatever this crystal was—could be more dangerous in the wrong hands. A sudden thought emerged in my head. Selling this thing could make me one of the richest men alive. With that kind of money, I could retire on any planet for the rest of my life. Whoa! It seemed my fear of the monster was slowly fading fast the more I thought about money. At that moment, my courage fully erupted, overcoming the fear I once had for this creature.

"Can you locate any weak points on this creature?" I asked my AI, as I constantly kept firing more proton missiles at it.

"Negative," it replied back to me after a small beep, which displayed the structure of the giant lizard. "The material design of this creature is similar to the skin structure of the terror beasts. However, beneath the skin is a machine design of unknown origin."

So all in all, I couldn't destroy this beast, even if I wanted to—my only option was evade it.

"Can you display the suit's default weapon system onto my com link screen?"

If there was a way to evade this monster, in the suit, I was going to find it, although, it was going to be tough.

"There are five smoke pellet canisters, flash point canisters available for use," my AI said and went silent after that.

Just that! That wasn't going to be enough to evade this type of creature in the air. I turned my attention away from it, and looked towards my environment, seeking for a way out. The night air was filled with the smell of dispersed proton smoke and residue; it was almost suffocating. I had fired almost 200 missiles at that lizard monster and none of them had proven effective. I could barely see through all that smoke, although I could feel a menacing bloodlust in the air which filled my heart with a bit of fear.

"Wait, that's it!"

The smoke was certainly proving to be effective against this monster as it was against me. Even optic sensory systems were ineffective in the smoke as was night vision. With the odds slightly shifted, I landed my body softly in the dense grass, and fired the remaining missiles in my arsenal. Once that was done, I placed the javelin bazooka on the ground and threw all the remaining smoke canisters in every direction, to cover myself from being seen. Slowly, I crept in the grass, my heart pounding wildly, searching for a place to hide. If this monster had sensory vision, it was going to be a matter of time before it figured out my location.

"Switch to super sonar vision, DX300," I whispered not trying to be heard by the monster.

I knew it was close and looking for me. The smoke wasn't going to last forever, meaning I had to find secure shelter immediately.

"Unable to follow command," My AI responded loudly, almost startling me to death. "This function is not active at this moment."

What! No! How could this be? Without this function, my entire plan was falling apart sooner than I expected. I heard another roar and this was even louder than the other two. It was so thunderous the skies echoed like a storm was brewing. Oh no! Another crucial obstacle at the very least—the monster was getting very angry. I began to panic as I was breathing very heavily; it was rare, but once in a while, I suffered from panic attacks when I was under severe stress, and I was possibly having one right now.

"Calm down and breathe," I whispered, unable to control the state of fear I was now in.

No one had prepared me for what to do if a situation like this emerged. In fact, there had never been a situation like this in the entire world's history. I guess, I should feel honored to be the first one to be eaten by a giant lizard on a foreign planet. No! This was not happening to me, was it?

"Get it together:" I scolded myself, and took a long deep breath to calm myself and thoroughly analyze the situation. Since frontal offense was not working, I had to rethink my strategy.

Easier said than done; without sonar vision, I couldn't find my way through anything—and if the smoke cleared up, I was a goner.

"Think fast, time is running out," I whispered silently, pondering my mind to find something I hadn't thought of.

Wait! The hover ship was still nearby on the ground. I retyped the coordinates to where the ship was and stood up silently. Based on my scanners, it was to the east of my direction, approximately 800 meters away. If I could fly beyond radar, there was a slight chance of slipping by unnoticed. Excellent! This plan was very idiot proof, in my own opinion, and it could work. Using my map scan system, I took off into the air, silently, and began to fly close to the ground. I could only hope the flapping of the wings wouldn't attract the lizard monster to my direction. The smoke was starting to clear up really quickly like something was sucking it up.

Oh no! Don't tell me the lizard had vacuum sucking powers now, did it? Without hesitating, I increased the frequency and speed of my suit's wings, as I was in a rush to get out of the vicinity. A sudden rush of adrenaline jolted though my entire body as I sped away, trying to locate the ship. The giant lizard roared again and suddenly the smoke was all gone. I looked back to see how much distance I had put between the creature and myself. Shockingly enough, it wasn't that much. I could clearly see the blue colossus beast hover above the ground, not too far from me, with its gaze towards me. With only five flash point canisters, I had to be very careful in how I used them. The giant lizard didn't hesitate to come up after me with great speed.

Did this creature know anything about giving up? I guess the creator had programmed it to pursue the raider to no end, until the crystal was either recovered or destroyed. I couldn't help, but admire the creator's brilliant creation— from one scientist to another, that was a great fit accomplished. The amount of dedication and sophistication that went into this monster was clearly astounding. Wait! I was a thief in a way, and this creature was after me. So why was I applauding that mad genius for creating this monster? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"Stop thinking and focus," I brought myself back to reality and begun to concentrate on my objective. According to my scanners, I was very close to the hover ship and would be there in a matter of seconds. Before I could locate the exact position, I heard a loud thump on the ground, almost throwing me off course. With my left shoulder, I balanced myself by shifting all my weight to the left, and turned to look back while still flying. The lizard had landed forcefully and was coming at me on its four legs, at an incredible velocity. Fascinating! I had never seen or heard of a creature that could run at this speed on foot. Such grace and elegance truly deserved admiration by all scientists personal. If I could capture this lizard, I would surely win a prize in science and be very rich.

No! No! No! What was I thinking? This wasn't the time to be thinking like this. Slowly, I took a deep breath and waited until the creature was so close to me, I could feel its stinky gun powder breath. Automatically, my head gear turned to night shade vision as I threw all my flash point canisters directly at its face. I barely turned around and escaped before I heard them explode, sending a massive ray of bright light across the night sky. At point blank, those canisters were enough to distract and blind the creature for a couple of seconds. My head gear visor switched back to night vision, allowing me to locate the hover ship. The ground stopped shacking as I heard the creature stop in its tracks—stunned. The first portion of my plan had succeeded. I quickly doubled my speed, wasting no time or taking any chances. Once I got to the hover vehicle, I made my way into the ship and forcefully shut the metal latch behind me. My heart was pacing heavily as I felt a bit of sweat crawl down my forehead. I didn't have time to type in some coordinates for a specific destination, so I quickly went to ship's navigational controller and switched it to auto pilot, by turning on the ship's AI system. There was a slight pitch for a few seconds, signaling that the ship engines were coming online. The inboards lights all turned on, as I felt the ship begin to hover above the ground. Had to admit, my patience was wearing really thin, at that point. The whole process was taking too long. Intolerantly, I programmed it by recalibrating it to go to the first well known coordinates, which was the location of the main ship. The ground began to shake heavily again as I felt the large monster approach. I quickly took over the ship's weaponry system and latched on it as hard as my arms could grip. The system beeped three times before giving me the green card to operate it. It was rather uncomfortable; however, my feelings appeared irrelevant at the moment. I had less than two days before the nuclear power core in my suit's system became too unstable and would explode.

Yep! Definitely felt the odds stacked against me. The hover ship slowly took off, but my heart rate did not decrease—I felt the creature draw closer with each second, even without seeing it. The creature let out another massive roar and it sound like it was coming from far above me.

"Now what!"

The tremors beneath the ground had suddenly stopped, which puzzled me completely. I knew the creature was still close, although, I had no idea where it was. The main video system was not showing anything around me, proving my first postulation to be true. The alien lizard was no longer on the ground; it had just suddenly taken off into the air, somewhere.

Before I could redirect the ship's scanner units up, I felt a terrible and tremendous earthquake slowly eroding the grassy terrain. I could hear a whole lot of trees falling from every direction, as the quake continued ravaging the ground. The ship vibrated, back and forth, causing the systems to go haywire on me. Slowly, but surely, I managed to reposition the ship back on track. If I had to guess, I would conclude that the lizard had done a terrible dive bomb in attempts to swish me inside the ship. It roared again and jumped into the air, but this time, I was ready for it. I had deployed a vast number of the ship's unit drones out into the surrounding.

The weaponry systems were now ready to use which was good. I opened the hatch, on top of the ship, and positioned myself at the hover ship's main gun system. Even though, I had never used it before, I had a good idea of how it worked. The 40 feet magnum cannon rifle was a weapon strong enough to display level 5 catastrophic destruction; this type of power could eradicate half a city upon impact. I slowly readjusted my weight and lined the gun's large 400x scope with the velocity and speed of the creature. The gun's 15 meter barrel gave me an edge in accuracy, which I needed considering how far up the creature was. My hands slowly toyed with the trigger safeties as an intense desire to attack first tempted me.

"Don't rush it."

The destructive and irrational desire to be aggressive was irresistible; however, I overcame it. An absurd move was the last thing I wanted to do in this type of situation. I slowly recoiled the first big shell into the gun and locked onto the creature's position. Strangely, the creature stopped moving, as it hovered up in the air, with its mouth open. Well, I certainly didn't have a problem with that as long as I could hit it while it was still stationary.

"Wait a minute."

I felt an odd feeling in my stomach, like something bad was about to happen again. The way its jaws were open so widely and how its once ferocious wild moves had became motionless. What was it plotting? The look in its eyes spelled despair and danger for me, unless I took action. I took aim at it and fired the first shell, as the ship automatically loaded the second one. I watched as the shell accelerated towards the monster with my teeth clenched. The monster took a direct hit and it growled loudly from the pain, but remained motionless. The shell exploded, causing small black ash smoke to erupt around the creature. The dark vapors cleared after a few seconds, revealing a large massive creature behind them.

No! There wasn't any damage on its exterior, but it certainly sounded like I had injured it somehow. With the way the ship kept moving, it was very hard to get an accurate shot at the creature's head. The best I could do, at that time, was at least cripple it enough to let me escape it and return to the main ship. This was bizarre; the beast was slightly in the same position as before with its jaw even wider like it was ready to puke something. Wait! What if it was trying to! Before I could even finish speaking, a strange beam of light shot out of its mouth, aimed in my direction. It was so big and fast, that there was no way to run from it. I quickly got off the weaponry seat and took over the ship steering system, by switching off the AI system. I steered the ship hard right as I tried to get off the path of the giant beam. More and more energy beams of light, more massive than the first one, and faster were shot towards me too. The laser beams colored the sky red with their power and began descending towards me in an untimely fashion. I couldn't find anywhere to escape the explosion. The beams smashed into the ground, destroying it like it was nothing. The aftermaths were wave shocks that rumbled the ground and reduced the trees to ashes instantly. I tried to navigate my way through what remained of the terrain, but I found myself barely able to hear a thing anymore. It felt like the explosions were happening right in my ear, even though the ship was equipped with an automatic sound proofing system. Still, the beams of light did not stop. It seemed they were getting even stronger and louder, with each second, as I had lost track on how many the lizard had shot out. I struggled for a while, trying to decide whether to stay or abandon the ship. Considering the situation outside, I realized it was too dangerous and my best chances of survival were inside the ship. I quickly typed in some more instructions into the ship's command system and looked through my sensory units. My hands were classically shaking from doubt and fear—I had never faced such an adversary as deadly, and powerful as this creature was.

Yes! Fortunately, the ship's system security level wasn't advanced enough, since I managed to hack into it and change some of the default controls. I transferred most of the ship's power limiters towards its defense unit, and activated its shields. Although they were not strong enough to defend me against the creature; it was still better than nothing. Suddenly, I felt a screech, rattling from one of the ship's dorsal hull.

"Now what!"

A loud bang clanked terribly, coming from the anterior upper portion of the ship. The hover ship shook back and forth beyond my control. One of the back engines seemed to have gone offline—smoke was coming from its end. I struggled with everything I had, pouring every ounce of strength my body could master, to regain control of the steering system. The ship's velocity was the problem because it was still going too fast. By switching off the main speed thrusters, I managed to activate the brake system, regaining minimum control of the craft.

"This is getting annoying really fast," I mumbled beneath my breath, and switched the hover ship's flight system on.

Pressing down hard on the ship's steering control unit, I stomped on the ship's thrust gears, forcing it to accelerate up into the air. The ship steadily rose from the ground at a linear constant velocity. Odds of survival seemed higher in an air battle than on the ground. My assumption led me to believe that the creature's speed and strength was shaved in half above the ground. The creature made an abrupt stop, as it froze motionlessly for a couple of seconds. The giant lizard ceased firing its beams from its mouth and roared at me, for a couple of seconds. I deactivated the anterior shields and transferred all the power to the ship's main thrusters, in order to increase my momentum, threefold. My plan was to get up close in order to fire the second cannon shell from a point blank radius. I actually felt brave as I was about to do the most stupid thing ever recorded in history. Every brilliant tactician knew that you should never confront a far much greater enemy head on and yet I was doing just that. As it was already too late to turn back, I stepped even harder on the thruster gear and positioned the rifle cannon exactly at the giant lizard's head. The creature started moving towards me without fear or hesitation.

Excellent! This was going to make a much easier target. The distance between the creature and me grew shorter, alerting me of the impending danger. Timing was everything. Once it was within a few yards away from me, it opened its mouth, planning to attack first, but I beat it to the punch and fired first, sending a massive shell flying in its mouth. The shell shot through its body, rippling the lizard to explode from inside out.

"Eat that," I snickered myself silly, watching the giant lizard growl out loudly.

Luckily for me, this giant lizard was not truly a terror beast; otherwise, this plan would not have worked, considering how invincible those creatures were. What the! The giant lizard started to look an awfully lot funny as it got bigger like a balloon. There was smoke ushering from its mouth as its movements got sloppy and static.

"Oh come on!"

The colossus creature looked ready to explode—and at this range, I was going to be caught in the blast. Instinctively, I turned my hover ship around and headed in the opposite directions as fast as I could. I glanced back quickly, observing the creature through the glass window, calculating how far the distance between us was. The giant lizard exploded and illuminated the entire night sky with bright orange light. My ship was caught in the blast wave, sending it flying in all directions. The main engine stopped working completely as the thrusters malfunctioned—all electric systems went off line and the video screen became static. All I could hear was a loud roar from the constant explosion. I tried gaining control of the steering system, but it seemed like it was also on the blitz; none of the defense mechanisms were working and it looked like everything had been jammed by some sort of device. Wait! Could it be? By destroying this robot terror beast, I had somehow unlocked its last resort defense mechanism, which shut down everything like an EMP wave. This creature seemed to terrorize me to no end. Considering there was nothing I could do to take control of the ship, I slowly headed to the armory system, while the ship was spinning out of control somehow, and started taking more packs of fresh power batteries. I also took two more level 2 super guns with me and placed them on my back before forcing the emergency exit door open. I jumped out into the open, exposing myself to the blazing sky narrowly evading my demise. I raised my hands, expecting my suit's wing system to deploy, but it didn't. "No! No! Of all the luck in the world!"

This couldn't be happening to me again, just when I had escaped! Without my emergency system, I wasn't going to make the most graceful of landings. As I was falling, I saw my life flash again for a third time which just ticked me off. I don't know how I had survived all those time, seemed like one big plot to a bad movie. Falling from over 3000 feet was no laughing matter, considering the speed I was falling at and multiplying it by the planet's gravity. I tried to reset my power battery by replacing the current one with a more powerful, fresh battery in my hand, but nothing worked. I could still move the armor; however, nothing else worked for the most part.

The hover ship exploded 70 meters up, behind me, rearing me down at an ever greater speed. I felt sick and almost threw up from the constant spinning I was doing. I felt myself drawn closer towards the ground as the chances of survival grew dim. I slowly closed my eyes for a couple of seconds and meditated, despite falling from the sky at an alarming rate. In every situation, there were always variables to consider before taking action. (Lesson four in the Planetary Survival Guidebook.)

I scanned every object I had in my position and began to come up with a strategy, to get myself out of this mess. Everything in my armor had stopped working except for my machined body movements. The guns seemed to be working, since they worked on a different frequency and power system

"That's it!"

I suddenly thought of the most bizarre plan I had ever imagined. I bit my lip, filled with anxiety, at the thought of it not working. My eyes dotted everywhere beyond a doubt, constraining me to reconsider other options. Either way, it was going to be a messy fall—no matter what other plan I could come up with. The brilliant and yet fatal plan revolved around the last defense mechanism in my armor. Every war suit had a built in super foam system, which could generate a foam powerful enough to withstand even a megaton force or explosion for a few seconds. Unlike the other systems, the super foam was activated when the outer layer of the suit was synched off by blazing high heat. Since that had not yet happened, I had to improvise and come up with a way to get myself caught in some explosion strong enough to activate it. Crap! For some reason, I looked down and realized that I was almost down to a thousand feet and still falling fast. It was only a matter of seconds now. Quickly, I did the last thing I would ever consider doing, and raised my javelin bazooka at myself. At point blank, it was possible I could die; however, I was out of options. My breath grew heavy and loud, sweat poured down my forehead, towards my eyes. I could feel the stinging salt from the sweat irritate my eyes greatly. Without realizing it, I felt my finger press hard on the trigger. What had I just done?

A missile struck me like lightning, so fast, I barely blinked at all. It hit me in the chest cavity, causing me to lose breath for a couple of hard, crucial seconds. My body jerked uncontrollably, electric jolts running throughout my nervous system. It felt like heat was being poured onto me, like I was in some sort of oven. Due to the sudden lack of clean air, I slowly lost consciousness and feeling in my left arm.

"Didn't really think this through now, did I?" I whispered, barely able to speak.

Everything went dark and I couldn't tell if I had or when I hit the ground as I was already unconscious.

3

"Den, can you hear me?" a voice called out to me.

No way! I knew this voice all too well. My heart paced quickly, as I felt a surge of excitement and joy crawl into me. It was Rose's voice, but that was impossible, since she left me 4 years ago without a trace. This had to be some sort of a bad joke; however, I was gullible enough to play along. For some unknown reason, deep down, I wanted to believe it was her.

Opening my eyes, I whispered, "Rose, is that you? Where are you?"

I couldn't see anything behind me; I could only see a tunnel ahead of me. There was something there, although I couldn't see it clearly. My vision was cloudy and hazy for me to see from this vantage point. I got up and walked straight towards it, with eyes full of hope. I just wanted to see her—even if it was just an illusion.

"Rose," I kept calling out, but there was no answer. Not even a slight sound. This uttering silence was maddening, almost sending heavy chills down my spine. Something about this dream or illusion was unnatural. I started seeing a pond just as I was getting close. It was built from ancient marble cement with a statue of a bird above it. I peered into the nice stream water completely fascinated. Reaching into the water, with my right arm, I completely dipped it halfway in. The water vibrated strongly, ushering small waves in every direction from my arm.

"What the!"

For a second, I thought I saw a glimpse of something in the reflection of the water and suddenly it was gone. I knew that was her voice, I just knew it somehow. I wasn't going crazy now, was I?

"Do you know why I left?" the voice came back again from within the pond. I am pretty sure I was going crazy now, if I was hearing voices from a pond.

Still, how was I supposed to know that? I mean, was she going to give me a hint or some kind of theory as to explain that question? I didn't reply, instead, I just looked away, hoping to avoid the question. If this really was Rose, then she sure was making it one very difficult reunion. But where was this voice coming from? This had to be some sort of terrible nightmare I was having—none of this was real. It was all in my head. Knowing that, I had a feeling the clue to finding her was also hidden deep within my subconscious. I played along, hoping to get a clue or some sort of sign to point me in the right direction.

"How come I can't see you?" I asked her, trying to be sincere and serious at the same time. "Are you really here with me right now?"

"You already know the answer to your first question, Den. Why don't you look deep inside your heart?"

Her response as usual puzzled me for a second, but then it all came back to me. Rose was fond of deep and rhetorical questions, and I had found it hard and troubling to answer in the past. Suppose that explained why I had no clue where she had gone to. Half the time, I zoned out on her, which was a really bad trait since we were getting married the following year. I remember her father telling her to call it off; however, she still had faith I would change. Hate to say it, but her parents were right about me.

"Strategically, it is impossible to look inside your own heart unless you have an X-ray drone scan your body while you are motionless. So, I can't do that at this moment without any equipment."

The voice chuckled and said, "you were always clueless even when I asked you rhetorical questions. You relied too much on technology to get you this far; you think that by yourself you can't do anything. When you finally look inside your heart and come to an epiphany, you will know what I meant, and how to find me. I will be waiting, Den."

The voice began to fade away as the pond slowly vanished into the darkness, leaving me clueless. This dream or whatever it was had yielded absolutely nothing as to her whereabouts. I felt frustrated and angry enough to lash out at anything.

"No, Rose, wait please come back," I yelled from the top of my lungs as I kept running forward, towards the fading light.

"Darn it!" I screamed one more time and awoke up, somewhere on the alien planet.

I could see the sun in the sky and all the dark blue tress lined randomly around me. The trees danced from side to side as a gentle whistle of wind rustled through them. My mind wrestled, trying to make sense of the dream. It was another puzzle to add onto a list of other unsolved memories from my past. It pained to know that, even in my dreams, Rose still left me deep, hidden messages I had absolutely no clues to. Nothing irritated me more than hidden and deep messages; they were always complicating to solve. I sighed slowly, getting halfway up, sitting on my back. I was startled when I saw a primitive hydro-h fire from five centuries ago. It was definitely rare and ancient—I couldn't take my eyes off it. To my surprise, there were also silicon old blankets I hadn't notice wrapped around me.

"That girl must mean a lot to you?" a voice spoke and I quickly jumped up to defend myself.

I looked around me and there was a man standing calmly near a military assault hover vehicle, dated back to the last Planetary War. He looked human enough, although his skin looked a little bit gray and rough. There was something peculiar and unsightly about him. I could tell that he hadn't shaved in ages, judging by the size of his beard. He shifted his weight to his leg while staring at me, unfazed. The way his eyes pierced at me made me feel rather uncomfortable.

Strange! He wore no armor and walked comfortably like the strong gravity on this planet was not affecting him. "Wait a minute."

He could be an alien. I tensed and shrugged at the thought of this scene ending violently. My arms and legs were unbound and free, which left me in the situation with the option to use weapons. I looked around, but did not find my javelin bazooka. Suddenly, memories flushed back into my mind, reminding me of how I had arrived to this awkward meeting. I remembered everything now; I had fired upon myself with a javelin bazooka to activate the last line of defense in the armor. Prior to that, I remembered nothing after.

This was impossible; at that height plus the great gravity of this planet, I shouldn't be alive. It puzzled me for a second, as I tried to come up with the right words to say.

"Does that girl mean that much to you?" he asked again, now, finally paying attention to me. "I saw her from your dreams. You were stupid to let such a girl leave you."

What! How did he know that? I was sure I didn't blurt out any hard secrets from my past. I looked at him with rage and content. The slow wind blew past me, back and forth, touching the pores of my exposed skin coldly. I shifted cautiously, looking steadily around for anything to use as a weapon.

"Who are you, alien man?"

My body automatically took a defensive stance barely flinching. However, his movements did not seem to show any evidence of hostility. Instead, he flicked his left fingers on his vehicle and frowned at me suddenly. It felt like he was toying with my feelings to see how I would react. I raised my fists and placed my left foot back to gain a stronger leverage.

The alien man looked at me and laughed untimely. "I can tell by the way you stand, that you have no advanced combat or martial arts experience. The way you clenched your fist tells me, that you are a scientist and not a combat veteran. You have some skills in acrobats and you are a very fast learner. The way you position your body tells me, that you've seen way too many martial arts holograms and you need to stop. Trust me, kid, you can't beat me, even if my hands were tied. There is still a lot you have to learn about this universe before you can challenge me."

Rude! But how could he know so much about me that quickly? His descriptions were accurate, but not all of them were entirely true. I had stopped watching martial arts holographs, four years ago, after Rose left. It just didn't seem as interesting now as it did when I watched them with her. I gazed back at him again and suddenly noticed he didn't have an oxygen tank on his back, meaning he could breathe this air too. His clothes dated back to 200 years ago and so did his hunting hat. Just where did this guy come from? How could he also breathe without an oxygen tank? Was he even human? My first assumption that he was an alien shape shifter seemed highly logical now. But what did he want from me?

He suddenly made a gestured movement and slowly leaned to the left an inch, while letting out a huge sigh, like he was relieved or something.

"That was pretty reckless what you did there, in the sky," he chuckled, shaking his head like I had done something stupid. "Not a lot of men will resort to blowing themselves up with a javelin bazooka, just to save their own skin in the process. I don't know how you managed to survive that. Your body must be made of something special, that much I can say."

"Yeah, well, I work out a lot," I replied sarcastically, giggling like a maniac. "But still, I have no idea how my armor is operational after that EMP knocked out all of my systems and battery pack."

"Well, I fixed it," he quickly answered me and turned his gaze away from me, for just a second, looking somewhere across the terrain. "It was a piece of cake really, only a matter of re-calibrating the backup circuits towards the central processor and rebooting back all the power radically. Simple mechanical physics, really!"

I seriously had no idea what he was talking about. I lost him somewhere at central processor or something— Mechanical Physics wasn't exactly my forte or area of expertise. The level of his intelligence definitely screamed super, advanced alien to me. I don't know, maybe, I was being feeble or senile. His facial expression changed drastically as he became serious and more intense.

"Now, kid, tell me who you are and who sent you? I won't go easy on you because you are just a kid?"

This alien man looked dangerous, and I could tell just by looking at him that, he could handle himself— well, in a fight. I was completely unarmed and unfamiliar with my new surroundings. My weapons had been stripped away, leaving me at a large disadvantage. Best option at the moment was to flee at fast as I could.

"Hey, I don't have to tell you anything," I lashed at him strongly. Seconds later, I realized that was maybe not the best response ever. "I just want to get back to my crew and finish my mission."

He looked at me in a strange way like he was observing me and asked, "how old are you?"

What! Was he making a mockery out of me? His questions seemed to pop up out of nowhere, barely staying on one subject. I had only experienced these types of random questions in a basic psychiatric evaluation. It made perfect sense now, considering all the variables in front of me. He was asking me simple logical questions, while at the same time evaluating my personality.

I had no way to prove my theory, but to avoid further troubles I told him, "I am Den Atmas, special space biologist, with unit 5 of the Earth Battalion, and I am 24."

"Oh wow! You just recently came from earth? This is great, I haven't seen another earthling in centuries," he said in amazement and stood up straight.

Centuries! Just how old was this man? If he was talking centuries, then he must be very ancient. I wanted to ask him how old he was; however, my conscience stopped me as to warn me not to provoke him. Mother always said it was rude to ask the elder their age; although, that seemed extraneous, since he was some alien shifter.

The alien man moved away from his ship quickly, approaching me with no guards on. If there was a time to strike him down, it was now. My fists shook steadily, but I kept myself restrained.

"This is wonderful, how did you get here?" he asked me, with a facial expression filled with curiosity. "Where is your ship? Tell me everything and ending with how and why you blew yourself up in the sky."

Could I truly trust him? I decided to take a risk and told him everything, starting from our ship burning through the planet's atmosphere, to how I got here—only excluding my family background and mission details. I also hid the crucial part about the crystal I had acquired, thanks to that last encounter with that monster.

"So, tell me, who are you exactly? Or the most obvious question is, what are you?" I asked him now that I had answered most of his questions. "You are not human, are you? No person can withstand this gravity or breathe normally in this toxic air."

I assumed, I had told him enough about myself to clearly gain his trust. The alien man looked at me all of a sudden, once again with intense eyes, like he had a borderline personality disorder and walked back to his vehicle.

"I'm complicated," he said slowly like he was savoring every breath of air he took.

"So you are alien then?"

"Answer is yes and no."

"That is not an answer. Then tell me why is your skin gray? Do you have some sort of parasitic disease like version 3 Leishmaniasis or Argyria?"

"No, I don't, kid, you are pestering me with a lot of questions."

"Well, can you at least tell me how old you are?"

"I'm a lot older than you, now listen, kid! There is one thing I can tell you young one, if we don't get off this planet and get back to earth, things are going to get rough. There is a lot more going on than you can imagine. Trust me on this, some things in life are better off left unsaid and others better dealt with immediately."

Gee! Who would have guessed that? Didn't he think I didn't know that, already? As far as I was concerned—things were getting worse and worse with each day on earth. The tenacity and replication speed of the terror beasts was way too much for any man to handle. Even with the combined strength of a billion armor suits, it was just too overwhelming to take on. All we could do was restrain their movements with metal walled barricades and giant superguns, which seemed to rip apart the planet in the process. It was safe to say, in a year from now, the creatures would outnumber the remaining human population 50 to 1.

"From what I can tell in your voice, something has happened on earth, just as I had predicted decades ago," the man said and fell silent.

Just who exactly was this man? To be able to survive the planet of the terror beasts for so long meant he had quite some experience in the art of war. The possibility that he was also an alien trying to deceive me did not slip my mind. The only question that remained was how I would react should he assault me.

"If you are human, then how did you get here?" I asked with a serious tone. Asking him random questions was getting tiresome and irritating. This man had answers I needed, and I was determined to get them now.

To my surprise he said, "I will answer your questions all in good time, but right now, we really have to go. I managed to stabilize the nuclear core in your armor from exploding for a brief time period. It should be good for another few hours, until we get to a main reactor and shut it down. Do you know why that suit has a nuclear core?"

My gut told me he wanted to change the subject at hand, to something of his own personal interest. My chest itched so terribly, causing me slight yearning of discomfort. I wanted to scratch it away, but the armor was the only thing in my way. Oh yeah! I remembered he had just asked me an important question.

I shook my head as to say no and then looked up, to hear his answer.

He shifted his gaze and sighed in disappointment, before responding, "It's because that suit was meant for a one way mission. In other words, soldiers who wore that armor could never return from battle. They would fight like berserkers until their hearts stopped beating, resulting in the armor exploding, and destroying every enemy close to them. I never liked that man's exoskeleton creations and weapons. Honestly, I find it revolting to see one of his inventions here again in front of me. That armor will not be easy to remove, so you are stuck with it for a while. You must be an idiot or desperate, if you are willing to sacrifice your life so easily."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," I responded briefly.

Although, I would probably blame it on the surge of dopamine that rushed through my body the first time I saw the suit. But now, everything was simple and clear. I had to get back to the main ship and alert everyone about what had occurred during the recon mission. With my com link system and the navigational unit going berserk, it was not going to be an easy task. On top of that, I was stuck with an alien man, who I knew nothing about, in the middle of nowhere!

Wait! I still had the crystal with me somewhere. I quickly went through my armor, looking for it until I found it in my inner chest pocket. The sphere felt small and smooth in my right palm—it was still glowing a tiny, bright light, although it was not clearly visible because of the sun. I stretched my right arm outwards, exposing the crystal to the natural elements.

"Fascinating," the old man commented, observing the crystal from my hands. "May I see it, please?"

His eyes widened as he came closer to observe it. I noticed that he barely had any wrinkles on him. He looked like he was in his 40s or something close to that. Was he immortal? The look in his eyes gave me a sudden nerve wrecking feeling I couldn't shake off. His greedy desire was glittered all over his eyes, like stars in the sky.

"I have never seen anything like this before. Where did you find this?"

Should I tell him? I mean, I knew nothing about this man or where he came from. In fact, I didn't even know his name at all.

"Tell me your name first," I muttered, glaring at him seriously, and watching his every reaction.

"Fair enough," he replied and backed away from the subject, like he was avoiding his past life.

"Come on, old man," I whined in frustration. "Just at least tell me your last name, or the first letters of your full name."

"No kid," he chuckled and stretched his arms out wildly. "I don't have to say anything if I don't want to and I would prefer if you drop the subject, right now. You youngsters are persistent indeed, rather annoying if I may add."

I was no expert in psychology or behavioral analysis, but from what I could tell, he had trouble trusting people. But then again, I was the same, in a totally different way. What I couldn't figure out was how he had managed to fix the suit nuclear core without causing it any further damage. He must or might have had some engineering background, which could only mean one thing—he was a scientist like me. I slowly put the crystal back into my inner pocket and looked around for any of my weapons or supplies. Oddly enough, they weren't there anymore, and if I had to guess, I would say they either blew up or this man took them. This whole situation looked totally like a blitz from a badly written script. The armor let out a sudden cringe noise, completely catching me off guard. The alien man had done a hefty job patching it together. I concluded, I had at least two hours before something bad happened. Luckily, the suit's power system and gravity controllers were orbiting slightly within stabilizing zones. The nuclear core was, however, a different case; it was destabilizing at critical proportions.

"Let's go," the alien man commented, getting into his vehicle. "I will accompany you to your main ship, then we can get off this planet."

Something about the tone of his voice was off, but what exactly? He was hiding something very important. Why did he help me? What was he after, and why was he so determined to leave?

"What do you get out of this?" I questioned him because the clues were just not adding up.

Instead of answering, he ignored me and kept readjusting the controls on his hover vehicle. I could clearly tell that he heard me—because for a slight second, his movements jolted strangely.

"A way off this miserable planet," he answered and looked at me with a serious and unfazed expression. "I am done answering questions. Now get in!"

Could I tell him that the ship's engines were nonfunctional? If I did, would he still be willing to take me back to the ship? I decided not to tell him and boarded his mobile vehicle without saying anything. I still didn't trust him as I focused completely at everything around me, on alert for anything suspicious. It was clear that this man was after something valuable within our possession.

"I took some data off your navigational scanner and plotted a coarse while you were asleep. Hope you don't mind," the man said and chuckled a little bit.

"Have you ever heard of boundaries and privacy?" I asked, being sarcastic.

"Nope! Been on my own for a few centuries so privacy takes a whole different meaning to me," he responded and let out a small laugh.

"That's still rude!"

Was this man messing with me, right now? It was clear that being alone for so many years had ruined his manners completely. Well, I guess it would be the same for any man. I mean, being trapped in the middle of a foreign planet, with a horde of beasts everywhere around you, could really do a number on someone's mind. Was this also my fate—if I failed the mission? Definitely a frightening thought in my own opinion. I leaned my head slowly against the vehicle's seat, while positioning my arms on my thighs gently. The mobile assault vehicle took off and began to hover 3 meters above the grass in a constant motion. Whoever built this was a genius; it was filled with some of the most sophisticated technology and infrastructure I had ever seen. This man couldn't have built this, could he? I mean, this was his vehicle, after all; but there was no way a mere human could be build this alone, was there? Or was he even human at all? I had observed his hands earlier and they had looked a bit strange. They were a dark, grayish rough color that almost looked similar to a terror beast's scale skin, almost asymmetrical. Shockingly, he was highly unusual, even for a human or alien. His intellectual level was beyond genius, unlike anything I had ever seen before. To be able to profile me by my sudden moves, and tell me everything accurately to the last detail, was impossible even with a dream analyzer. Was I looking at one of the most intelligent scientist in the world or someone incredibly lucky at guessing? As the mobile vehicle began to move, I decided to test him and hear the truth for myself. There were so many mysteries surrounding him that it became too overwhelming not to ask him any question.

"Hey, old man, how have you survived this long on this planet?"

With the terror beasts wreaking havoc of earth, he had managed to do the impossible for so long. He didn't answer at first, as he pointed his fingers to the dashboard of his vehicle. The dashboard controllers beeped out loudly, sending echo frequencies through the area. The results were then displayed on the monitor, allowing him to pinpoint the exact location of his targets. Ingenious!

"When you are as old as me, kid, you discover amazing things in life. It happened few decades ago, when I discovered something strange while on patrol by mistake," the old man stated, looking straight ahead.

His eyes glimmered with a faint light while his face remained motionless.

"By dispersing highly dense electro neutrons into the area, I can detect any object displaying a terror beast's energy and cause a rippling effect in the area, allowing me to tell exactly where they are. These are much more complicated to learn than I thought possible; however, like wolves, they hunt in packs and multiply once every month. Fortunately, their lifespan is really short, which is how they have not managed to overrun this planet"

What! On earth these creatures were multiplying at a speed far more incredible than this. What did this all mean? I didn't want to tell him all the details about terror beasts being on earth yet, since I didn't know how he would react. It was certainly obvious to me that he wanted to go back to earth as soon as possible. Telling him that disaster had befallen our planet would surely crush his spirit, which was something I didn't want—yet. The sensors on his monitors went off and he began to slow down a lot. He stopped the vehicle completely, in silence, and told me not to speak. From a distance, I heard the cry of a terror beast from somewhere in the forest. There were more that followed after it, like they were communicating with each other. The sensors on the monitors showed more than a dozen creatures ahead of us, heading east from our direction. We were more than a hundred meters away from them, which was bad considering they had highly sensitive ears.

"On this planet, it's all about survival of the fittest," the man commented, in a whisper to me. "You only fight when you are cornered; otherwise, it is best to just stay out of sight."

Right! If I was to make it out of this alive, I had to listen to him and do what he said, for now. I just hoped the others were doing much better than I was. As soon as the scanners stopped displaying the terror beasts' energy signal, the old man turned on his vehicle, and we started moving again.

"That was too close," the old man said, sighing a breath of relief. "I can handle two terror beasts, but a dozen of them are just too much."

Really! Could he really handle two terror beasts by himself? That sounded unbelievable; we could barely harm those creatures, and yet this man claimed he could take out two by himself? Was he serious? I suppose, it was possible with the right equipment, plus additional background on the inner structure of the creatures.

"Are you familiar with the quantum proton theory?" I asked him, trying to see just how smart he was. If he was as intelligent as I assumed, then this question should be easy. He chuckled while blinking slowly, in a careless manner, like I had something stupid.

"What! Are you serious?" he replied to me, with a shock on his face. "I literally invented it myself; any person with the knowledge of science knows this theory is irrelevant."

Well said. By his response, I was now sure that he had knowledge in science, because by not answering the question, he actually answered it correctly. Every scientist knew of this theory and to not repeat it out loud—since it had not yet been proven accurately. That was the first basic law of Krin. I could tell now that his knowledge of natural and artificial science was great, but just how great? I felt excited as if I had discovered a new heavy element in nature. My level of interest peaked as I decided to ask him an even more difficult question, trying to estimate how high his IQ could be.

"What about the concept behind using neon alpha particle exposure on human flesh?"

The man snickered and said, "I don't think you truly know the reason for using neon alpha particles in the first place."

What! When and why was this question turned around to me? I turned my attention towards him, surprised, and stunned. He was drastically doing everything possible to keep questions away. His actions only fueled my curiosity even more. I liked the challenge and I knew he would eventually crack, and tell me what I wanted.

"Of course, I know the answer but I'm asking you."

Was I testing him or was it the other way around? I knew enough about neon alpha particles, although it wasn't much. My knowledge in them was limited at best. I ran my left arm against the plate on my thigh, while waiting for him to respond. The mobile vehicle let out a small thump as we ran over something solid. I turned to look at what it was; however, I saw nothing. Everything looked the same, a vivid blue color that only glowed brighter in the sun.

"Neon alpha particles are particles which have similar properties like that of an electron cloud, and due to their durability and non-poisonous manner, they have been used by the military as a way to heal the soldiers quickly, and increase endurance in order to deploy them back onto the battlefield. The particles increase red blood cell formation in the bone marrow and increases platelet production in the body. However, I don't think they told you what the long term exposure to these particles could do to your body. Massive acceleration of red blood cell formation will increase further output of energy and further deplete your body of ATP, causing damage to other metabolic pathways in your body. Of course, you will learn and experience it firsthand, considering how much of these particles you have in your body."

What! This couldn't be true, could it? They told us that these particles were safe and could be used over a long period of time, without any risk to the user, even if a bit overdosed. Oh no! I had highly overdosed, the day before, and I could still feel them in my body, but not in a painful way. They swam throughout my veins slowly without causing any irritating sensation. But how could he know all that? Just who was he? He was like a closed book that required a key to unlock. Unfortunately, I didn't have the key which only seemed to cause me a great deal of grief.

"There is a lot you still don't know, but don't worry: all will be revealed in due time."

"Well, thanks, that answer makes me feel better," I sighed to myself.

I felt a small drop of sweat pour down my forehead, followed by a faint shiver. The information he had given me had shook me up a little, as I really had no idea how much damage I had done to my body. I honestly tried my best in life to stay fit by exercising and eating healthy—I had never smoked any Buzz cigarettes or alcohol, which was rather a great accomplishment for me. Never had I thought I would die from exposure to neon alpha particle poisoning. What a terrible twist of fortune. Everything was silent. All I could hear was the roaring sound of the hover vehicle, jolting across the terrain.

We kept moving ahead towards the coordinates displayed in the vehicle's navigational unit at a constant speed. The words he said kept echoing inside my mind, blocking every other matter at hand. If this was all true, then I was in some serious trouble. Aside from having an unstable nuclear core, I had neon alpha particle poison to deal with too. Could this mission get any worse? I spoke to soon because it suddenly did.

"We are getting close to your ship,' the old man said, as the scanner got louder and intense. "Just a few more miles till we get there and get off this planet."

But did I want to really go there? I was having second thoughts, considering what I had been through these past two days. If my other crew had been found so easily, what was the chance that whoever took them couldn't have missed that giant ship on the ground? It was way too big not be noticed by anyone. All I could hope for was that they were alright. The moment I saw the ship's outer structure in a distance, my heart began to panic. What if they had been found and also taken away?

No! No! No! I couldn't think like that. I had to stay positive and believe in something good. We got close and my com link came back on, but there were no voices speaking through it. I was not surprised considering the chain of events that had taken place recently. My heart was pounding so hard I could almost hear it clearly. Was this fear I was sensing from myself? Just what was I so afraid of? Maybe, what was scaring me was being stranded on this planet, with no way to get back home, stuck with this old man till the terror beasts tore us to pieces. Taking into account the ship's damaged engines, I would say it was more than likely. No! I couldn't think like that if I wanted to survive. I had to man up now. The alien man stopped the vehicle, close to the ship, and I got out. He instructed me to go on ahead as he went and found a safe place to hide his hover vehicle. The sun was still burning in the sky, with only a few more hours before sunset. With no weapons, and no sensory scanners in my suit, I was completely defenseless against the terror beasts. Slowly, I moved forward, gazing in all directions for anything out of the ordinary. I was freaking out and scared half out of my mind, as I thought of crazy scenarios in my head. What if there was a terror beast inside the ship? What if everyone had been turned into those creatures?

"No stop!" I literally knocked some sense into myself and took a really big breath. "I am being irrational; terror beasts are not a virus or disease."

Without thinking, I ran towards the closest point of entry into the ship and opened it forcefully, fearing something was following me. I got into the ship and quickly closed the door behind me. I didn't lock it, in case the alien man decided to use the same door to get in as me. The hull of the ship was badly damaged, but it looked like some repairs had been made to it. The funny thing was that there was no one in plain sight and yet the com link was operational. I don't know why I found it funny. Perhaps, it was a way for me to cope with my fears. Deep down, all I wanted was just to hear the voice of another person, just one—but that didn't happen. It was obvious that something had happened, a terrible disaster indeed. A mystery lay before me requiring careful investigation, and a crucial amount of detailed analysis. Thankfully, I had most of the ship's structure inserted in my com link. I took advantage of the map, on my eye contact screen, and used it to navigate my way to the armory room. If I was to go any further, I needed some sort of weapon to defend myself with. I walked carefully, watching my back—towards my objective compartment; I didn't bother checking the other rooms beside me for people. Getting a weapon was my primary objective, besides going to the mess hall and getting something to eat. When I approached the armory, I noticed that the door was wide open, and at least 94% of the guns were missing from their compartments. Most of the armors were also gone along with the canister grenades and javelin bazookas. It was now clear to me that either the terror beasts or the unknown enemy, from earlier, had passed by the ship, causing panic and chaos among the remaining crew. There were no signs of struggle inside, which meant the battle had taken place outside. Oddly enough, I saw no signs outside to tell me where this had all occurred. After thinking for a short while, I went inside the armory and began looking for a suitable weapon for heavy battle. It had to be compact, small, and yet powerful. But could I find something relatively like that in this place? Too many unknown variables were making this far more difficult to come up with a solid plan I would use to locate the others.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't just kill you myself, right now," the alien man hissed with such fury his veins popped out. "It seems you forgot to tell me that this ship was in no condition to move."

Oopps! It seems I had, but telling him now would only anger him even more. I had a strange feeling this might happen, although I chose to mislead him anyway.

"I'm sorry," I said, sounding sincere.

I backed away, a few steps, and observed his movements with careful analysis. He was very angry, that much I was sure of, but I had no idea how he would react. He staggered on his feet, struggling to keep his bottled up frustration in. Most of the veins on his weary arms were showing as his hands grasped tightly on his gun. The angle and position of his gun was directly aimed at my head.

"If I had said something, you wouldn't have brought me back here now, would you?"

The old man paused silently and then replied, "true enough, I probably wouldn't have."

"I am sorry for deceiving you; however, I didn't have a lot of options at that moment."

"I guess you are right."

He lowered his weapon slowly and sheathed it back on his belt. The anger on his face did not subside, even when he went around the room, looking curiously at the remaining arsenal. Still, it was strange how a brilliant man like him could have missed seeing the obvious wreck the ship was in, from the outside; it was as clear as day that even a fool could see it. But seriously, just what was he anyway? On the outside, his physical characteristics looked human enough, and at the same time, different. I mean, the gray color of his arms didn't exactly spell earthly human at all: it spelled alien to me. Was he also nearsighted or something? I mean, it could explain why he didn't see how damaged the ship was when we first arrived at it. Oh well! I bothered not pushing my luck by asking him why he didn't see such a simple thing as that. With him around, I felt at ease, since if a monster was to come, I would probably run and leave him behind as a distraction. Hehehe! Hopefully this plan of mine wouldn't back fire and make me the distraction while he ran away. My eyes shifted around as I started to move briefly inside the armory, hoping to find something useful. The metal floor squeaked out loudly, alerting me of soft spots beneath me. I gently slithered around as cautiously as I could, while looking left and right. After a few minutes of looking around, I found two L250 pistols, fully loaded, and some canisters. I quickly took one of the guns and a few canisters and placed them into an empty compartment in my armor. My mind began to wander around, feeling me up with concerning, yet positive thoughts. I looked at my map screen, on my visor, and calculated how many hidden compartments the ship had. It was literally impossible that all of the crew had been kidnapped by the alien ship. Possibly, some might have escaped or found safe places to hide aboard the ship.

With my hope rekindled, I made a hasty decision, and decided that I would search every inch of this ship until I found them—or even someone. Before I could exit, my eyes caught the attention of a long distance quantum rifle. I walked towards it, and lifted it close enough to examine it. The hilt of the rifle was rough for a tight grip while the long barrel offered me moderate long distance accuracy. I brought the weapon closer to my face and carefully released the cartridge magazine, to estimate the amount of bullets in it. The gun let out a loud cocking sound, causing the alien man to look my way for a bit. He didn't say much, but looked at me with eyes filled with wrath and disappointment. It was clear that he hadn't forgiven me for misleading him into coming here. He looked at me for a few more seconds, before going back to whatever he was doing. I took the quantum rifle and reloaded the magazine back before going towards the exit door.

"I will be back in while. There might be survivors in here, so I am going to look for them."

He didn't reply as if he was trying to ignore me. His body movements told me that he had heard me, but was pretending not to or just didn't care.

"What a sour man," I sighed, shaking my head as I found myself in the corridor, outside the armory. There was a loud dripping noise coming from the upper structure. A few drops of water were making their way down onto the metal floor from a broken pipe. Fortunately for me, the anterior wall was made from platinum alloy, which explained why the inner structure hadn't collapsed yet. I pondered for a long minute, looking at the dripping water, while planning my next move at the same time. The ship was gigantic and it was going to take a while to look through every room. This colossus piece of advanced technology had housed about five hundred people which made my plan more complicated. I looked carefully at the ship's inner structure map, displayed on my com screen, attempting to locate my exact location. It seemed I was on the deck, below on the west wing, a few floors from the man cockpit. From this location, I was at a good angle and position away from the main control compartments.

"I guess that settles that!"

I proceeded forward, north, towards the main ship's control room, cautiously and quietly. It was a little bit too quiet even for my taste, which meant trouble was ahead of me. Somehow, in my mind, I could sense the impending danger coming from all direction, like a very bad cold. The air inside the ship was cold, thin, and almost suffocating. It was getting very hard to breath with each step. My muscles tensed firmly, as I gripped my rifle hard with both arms on it. I had the nozzle positioned straight ahead of me, aimed to strike anything that could approach from the front. I felt a drizzle of sweat from my forehead flow down to the rest of my face, almost clouding my vision. I didn't stop at all; instead, I kept going further into the depths of the ship. I had never been this nervous before: it was quite a chilling experience. The looming quietness completely threw me over the edge. The walls looked black, with the snaring clutch of the fire that had once engulfed us upon entrance into the atmosphere. I made my way to the end of the last corridor and saw the main control room. The door was sealed from the outside and required a password or access card. I felt nothing and realized it was safe to approach the door. Swiftly, I moved until I was directly beneath the giant metal door. I extended my free arm towards my chest plate and took out my access card. Every crew member had one in case a situation like this occured. The door AI analyzed my card for a few seconds and glowed green, granting me access inside. The door let out a loud screech as it opened widely to the right. The lighting and controls came online, as soon as the door was open wide enough. I quickly got in and scanned around, with my gun gripped tightly in front of me. This emptiness, it was suffocating and unbearable to carry. Just what had happened here? Was it terror beasts or the aliens that caused this? I slowly lowered my gun and put it on the bandoleer, on my back. My arms moved automatically, trying to gain control of the ship's infrastructure.

As expected, the system monitors were badly damaged. Flight control circuits looked fried along with the main hard drives. I went and sat down by the senior engineer's seat, trying to find out the status of the ship. My feet rested slightly against the floor while my back relaxed against the soft seat. I sighed for a while, closing my eyes to think rationally. I had to admit, I was rather disappointed with my findings. There was no one here, even though this was the most secure room on the ship. My discoveries led me to reanalyze my plan and take a different approach on it.

I linked my com link system to the system server and began to scan the ship's entire system, from top to bottom. The screens blinked red, displaying several critical problems that needed to be dealt with immediately. I estimated that it would be a month or so before this ship was within operating range—I mean, that was if the whole crew was helping out.

"Just perfect!"

With half the crew gone, and the other half vanished, things did not look delightful. We had completed our mission; however, we wouldn't be able to return home for a while. My left hand clenched into a fist as I was filled with agonizing frustration. I had no idea what my next move was. I took off my head gear and wiped away the sweat from my face. The cold air stuck to my face like glue to paper. It gave me a sense of coolness and grief at the same time. All of my thoughts seemed to fade to the back of my mind, leaving emptiness in my conscience.

"I can't lose hope."

I opened my eyes and placed my hands down again. There was always a coloring, even in the cold dark. Hope was always possible even in a bad situation. My crew was still alive, somewhere on this miserable waste of a planet.

Using the com link, I uploaded all the video surveillance into my suit system and got off the chair. I sturdily put my head gear back on firmly and gently. The videos popped up, one at a time, on my visor, in a constant timely manner. I watched them carelessly while moving out of the control room. The door stayed opened, surprisingly, after I left—but I did not bother with it, at all. From what I could see, the ship's remaining crew had come under attack from terror beasts just as soon as we left. They were outnumbered too, and that was when another ship—similar to the one from before, came down to their location; everything went static after that.

Darn! Who were these people or aliens? Were they another life form from this planet? Why was I always one step behind them whenever they came? I had to find them, but I just didn't know where to start looking first. Out of the blue, I heard a loud noise, coming from the vents. Was it a survivor? No, it was way too noisy to be survivor since the racket came from something very large. The vents began to bend down, like something was stretching them from the inside. At that point, I began to run as fast as I could towards the engine room. I hopped over some broken pieces of pipe and ducked through a broken compartment wall. The fallen pieces of damaged equipment were making it hard to jolt through nonstop. I heard another roar, followed by something breaking down the vents. The floor trembled heavily, barely shaken by the fall of something large. I took a small glimpse back and saw a terror beast leap out and come towards me, at a menacing speed.

Oh no! Where was that old man when you needed him? By myself, I was no match for a terror beast, even if I was armed with a level two weapon. As soon as the hallway split into two, I threw the first smoke canister in order to throw it off course, as I ran the other way. I took the left corridor, narrowly running over a charge compacter. Was it still following me? I stopped and took a breather as I looked back.

"Are you kidding me?"

It was still coming after me, despite my efforts to slow it down; it seemed I had miscounted its sense of smell, which seemed much keener than I anticipated. I quickly took out my rifle and began to fire at it, while slowly backing away, two steps at a time. The creature gnawed loudly, moving slowly with its eyes directly at me. My condensed proton bullets were doing nothing to even slow it down as they ricocheted away upon contact. Just what kind of skin did these creatures have? Did they have any weakness at all? My back hit something heavy and hard, causing me to look back quickly.

Finally, I had stumbled upon a door reserved for emergency purposes like these. It didn't require a password or access card, fortunately for me. I placed my left arm on it, and pried it open it with one hand while firing my weapon at the terror beast with the other. The terror beast somehow realized what I was doing and began to move faster in order to stop me. Just as the creature was within striking distance, I opened the door in time and locked myself in. Phew! Any second later and I would have been history. There were loud bangs on the door like something was hitting against it—the large door ached roughly from both angles. I felt my heart skip a beat at the thought of the creature getting inside, which was rather a matter of seconds. I realized the creature was not going to give up, meaning I had to think of a way out of this mess. The walls were made of thick steel, all around, with a small ventilation system. It would take a level 5 weapon to make a dent or destroy this room. I slowly took a long breath of air and positioned my body firmly, with one knee on the ground.

"Just try to relax," I whispered to myself, trying to calm down.

Everything made of matter had a weakness; all I had to do was think. If the terror beasts had a tough skin on the outside, to shield them from the elements and other things that would like to harm them, then what about the inside? Their innards couldn't possibly be as tough and scaly as their outside, were they? I thought back to the giant lizard, I had fought before, and realized something. It was only the terror beasts' skin that was rigid and tough; however, the inside part was a different story. Plus, the gravity on this planet was a whole lot heavier than on earth, which somehow had to affect them as much as it did us. I quickly put all the pieces in order, inside my mind, and placed my hope on a guess.

All I had to do now was to aim accurately into its mouth, whenever it broke the door apart. No! That was easier said than done. I mean, it's not like it was going to open its mouth and let me shoot it, was it? Odds of my plan succeeding seemed slightly less favorable. The terror beast kept banging its body against the door so hard I felt it start to crack. It was only a couple of seconds before that creature was in here. My breathing lowered while my mind became void of all other imperative thoughts. Slowly, I deployed smoke canisters everywhere and hid myself within the smoke, as I heard the door break apart. The metal door fell off onto the corridor as loud steps rattled inside. There was faint growl echoing thoroughly on all sides of the compartment. It was in here—so close to me, I could hear it snarl softly. The terror beast took a few steps around the room, hoping to sniff me out from the smoke. I wanted to cough so badly, but for my plan to work, I had to breathe extra quiet. My throat lunged at me, sending impulsive reflexes into my lungs. I wanted to cough out loudly, to expel the air from my lungs, but not yet. I held my gun closer to my face, horizontally extending it and waited patiently for the terror beast to come within range. Suddenly, it stopped moving and begun to growl out loudly in a horrible screech. I was so close to it, I almost went deaf as the sound echoed around the walls. I lost my focus and coughed as I breathed a little bit of smoke. The smoke clouded my vision and made me a bit woozy.

Just what was this beast doing now? The smoke cleared a little bit from the room, exiting into the metal corridor. I could see a shadow faintly lingering in the room. Just hoping it hadn't seen me too, as I began to crawl towards it slowly. Wait! What was I doing? I had a chance to run and yet I was going towards this creature, in attempt to kill it? Within range, it lowered its head and growled loud and long in attempt to frighten me. Yes! This was my chance; I raised my gun and fired at its mouth. It roared in pain and ran out of the room quickly. Greatly, I was pushed back by some unknown force and fell on my back. I groaned in pain for a minute, lying still on the metal floor.

Had I done it? No, it seemed as though I had missed by a little bit. The creature had glided out of my gaze into the corridor outside. I had injured it; however, I did not destroy the beast. I coughed out loudly as I got out of the room slowly. My body reacted violently once the smoke had left my body. I made my way towards a wall and leaned back against it, trying hard to breathe normally. It was exhausting just to hold my fear in, but I'm glad I had kept it together for so long. I balanced back on my feet once the trembling had stopped—both arms shivered heavily I was barely able to hold my gun firmly. The canister smoke seemed to have side effects I had not yet accounted for. I had a feeling that this creature was still inside the ship and I had to find it. Finally, I knew that it had a weakness and that it could be defeated with a blast to the mouth. Well, that was still just an assumption, but if my hunch was right, then I had found a way to turn the tide of this war around. There was black blood residue on the fallen door, which I could only assume was from the terror beast, leading straight towards the engine room. It was sticky and slimy, far unlike anything I had ever seen before. Since no one on earth had ever taken one of them down, we had never examined their blood up close. I quickly lowered myself and took a sample of the blood putting it into a small empty capsule. The blood stuck to the lid of the capsule like glue on paper. I placed the capsule into a secure side inside of my thigh plate pocket and carefully examined my surroundings. The walls in the corridor were still holding strong, but showed signs that something powerful had dented them.

After one good long breath of air, I began to track the trail of blood from the injured terror beast. Without working scanners, I had no way to digitally track its movements, meaning I had to physically follow the blood residue on the floor. I lowered my stance and balanced my weight firmly into my abdomen, allowing me to stealthy make my way around the corridors in abrupt silence. Residues of blood were rarely vacant, almost making it hard to locate the direction it was moving. However, I had a pretty good idea of where the creature was going. I rechecked my weapon one last time and inserted a new extended cartridge of bullets. My heart paced calmly as l raised my weapon in the air, gazing in both directions carefully. A loud noise came from the engine room just up ahead—I quickly hurried towards a corner to hide. The door to the compartment looked torn and dismantled, like a terror beast had forced its way in.

"What am I doing, seriously," I shook my head, carelessly, realizing what I was about to do was a bad idea. My hands trembled nervously for a second at the thought of another head on collision with the creature. I cocked my head towards the door, hoping to see a glimpse of the creature. It was completely dark with no signs of life. I knew the terror beast was still inside, but did not know its exact position. "The creature is hurt; it won't put up much of a fight now."

I paused briefly for a second, before moving unhurriedly towards the compartment. A sense of awareness intensified my focus, allowing me to completely zone out every positive and negative thought I had. One step at a time, I approached the compartment with my rifle extended outwards in front of me.

The moment I got into the engine room, I looked around quickly, planning to find it first, before it found me. Completely and utterly nothing stirred in my presence— silence engulfed the whole room. Broken pieces of equipment lay wasted all over the floor in retribution to the crash. The creature wasn't anywhere in sight. One thing for sure was that it knew really well how to hide, like someone had trained it. Or was it because it was evolving into a better predator? Oh crap, the trail of blood vanished completely—like it had been wiped clean. Either way, something sure felt strange about how things were turning out on this mission. I didn't expect to find another person living on this planet, or to find a mysterious group that took people away. I gazed up for a clear view of the compartment from the inside. The engine room was a complete mess and there were super foam residues left everywhere inside. How could this have happened? It defied logic; the ship wasn't supposed to crash like that. Something else was afoot here. I heard a big clank from somewhere within the room and raised my gun up quickly. My body filled up with adrenaline. I turned my head in all directions, while lowering my stance for a better shot. The combination of fear, danger, and excitement was just too intense for me. The sound got more intense as I heard a loud object move toward my location, approaching from the vents above me. Within a glimpse of a second, I saw the terror beast jump towards me, with its claws extended widely in front, and its jaws lashing open.

I wanted to take the shot, but if I missed, the beast would slash me apart with its claws. Darn! I rolled away to avoid it, and shot it a series of proton bullets on its abdomen. The bullets didn't even phase it, as it got back up and began to blitz towards me for a second strike. I held my breath in and stood there, motionless, waiting for the perfect chance to fire one accurate round in its mouth. Once it got within range, the creature jumped at me with its mouth wide open, ready to strike me down. I fired my weapon into its mouth at point blank and shielded myself with my hands. The beast tackled me onto the floor and growled out loudly as it got up and ran out. It smashed the hull of the ship apart and ran right through it, heading towards the forest. No way! Even two bullets to the mouth weren't enough to destroy this creature? How was this all possible? I had injured it, but not killed it. Something was not adding up, I had a terrible gut feeling that supported a new theory. On this planet, these ravaging beasts were a whole lot weaker and slower than those that appeared on earth. They were still powerful; however, not as strong as the ones wrecking the planet earth. Gravity, perhaps, played a major part in my new theory. Just what was I missing? I had all the pieces, but just couldn't connect them all together.

"You really are a crazy fool," the alien man glided out of the corridor, with his hands folded in front. He barely smiled, but his eyes sparkled fiercely. "I didn't think you had it within you to face that creature, but you proved me wrong."

Fiend! Just what game was he playing? I had almost lost my life and he didn't seem to care. The unknown man moved closer to me, turning his head away to look at the engine room.

"Why didn't you help me?" I screamed at him with the remaining strength I had. "I could have been killed, you know?"

"Be quiet," he growled at me quickly. "You didn't tell me the condition of this ship, so I decided to teach you a lesson—so next time you'd know better than to fool me. Besides, I wanted to get the main nuclear reactor ready to work. Your nuclear core needs to be stabilized quickly or you are going to explode and take this ship with you."

Oh! Well, that was a good point he made, but, still, he could have at least given me a hand or two. My arms ached terribly, forcing me to drop the rifle in my hands. It let out a terrible clank once it hit the ground. I looked down at it, unable to bend down to pick it up—I was fatigued beyond my limits.

"You are running out of time," he continued and quickly helped me up. "The nuclear core in your suit has reached its critical point; any minute from now, it will explode. Come with me right now, to the main reactor."

"Okay," I panted, scuffling hard to stay on my feet.

"You are such a pain."

The alien man moved closer to me and placed my left arm around his shoulder to support me. He led me through the narrow corridor, across the mess hall, towards the fusion reactor room a floor below. The door opened automatically and we made our way inside cautiously without delay. I climbed onto the metal bed and rested my weary body against it. The latches on the bed firmly clutched onto my body, stabilizing it for the armor extracting procedure. A loud beeping noise erupted, causing the armor to shut down without warning. My movements became static as all that I could move now was my head. The air became thin. Small nanomyte particles appeared, glowing heavily inside the compartment. They bloated in every direction, spreading widely like noxious gases. Smog filled the room, too, and a robot drone came down from a hidden latched door, near the fan ducts with engineering equipment. The drone had a body of aluminum alloy, with dense solid gold crab like claws as hands. Red eyes, with lifeless glimmer, looked down on me with no signs of remorse or fear. It removed my outer titanium suit shell and inserted a plug from the main reactor. This jolted me for a few seconds, but it felt like a huge weight was being released from my shoulders. The chemical components of the main reactor were fusing with the nuclear properties in the core of my suit, in order to reach equilibrium. I truly never realized how heavy my suit was until all the power was turned down. It was so heavy; I could barely move any part of my body, except for my head.

"Almost ready," the alien man commented from the other room. "You might want to breathe slowly because this last part is going to hurt."

What! What did he mean by that? Before I could ask him, I felt a tremendous jolt of electricity run down my spine. It was so strong and unbearable; I could hardly breathe. I had never felt such an extraordinary amount of pain before and it only got worse. I tried clenching my teeth and fists, but that only made it worse. The jolt of electricity finally stopped; however, my mind had been disturbed. I could hardly breathe and move as I felt helpless. Slowly, I closed my eyes, at the same time, struggling to stay awake. I had to see this through to the end, although I wasn't sure if I had enough strength left to make that happen.

"Your body handled it well, kid! I am surprised to say the least" he laughed from the other room, almost pissing me off. "That armor can't be removed without hurting you. If I tried to remove it by force, I could break you sternum apart or possibly cause it to explode. I don't know why you chose that armor, but it looks like you are stuck with it for a while. I told you it was a one way ticket based armor suit for soldiers going into enemy territory, with no chance of coming back, so I hope you understand."

No! How could I have been so stupid? It now dawned on me that curiosity could lead to serious consequences, if the wrong decision was made.

"Will it still explode?"

"No, I managed to stabilize it back towards normal radius for now. Your life is no longer in danger."

"Is there anything I can do to get it off?"

"No, kid, sorry—not with the equipment on this ship anyway. But I'm going to start remaking your armor with everything; well, anything I can find. It's going to take time, so if I were you, I would close my eyes and take a nap for a while."

Right! There was no sense in staying awake through the entire painful process, waiting for all of it to be over. The nerves in my body had become so sensitive that a slight twitch could bring unbearable pain. I slowly took small breathes of air and sighed silently as my eyes closed. It felt good to just relax all my muscles and just fall into a deep sleep.

(Thursday 16 2992) 1416 hrs. 4 Years Ago

"Den! Den! Come on," Ed yelled, pulling me forward. "There is something in the school. I don't know much about the details, but it's really bad."

I pushed his hand away strongly, rejecting his words completely. I was beyond merely stressed as school was coming to an end. I gazed back at him with a face filled with anger—he looked terrified, as if something dreadful had happened.

What did he want? We had 10 more pages for our final research project to write; it was due in one week from now, which meant we had to work even harder, to get done in time.

"Ignore it, Ed," I said, sounding ignorant. "It's probably just another drill the school has us do to prepare for emergency situations. Let's just forget about it and get back to work. If it's really real, they'll inform us on our com pads."

"You are not serious, are you?" Ed asked with frustration written all over his face. "Is school really much more important to you than your safety?"

Hmm! That was a good question and almost hard to answer. I bit my lip, raising my eyes to seriously think about it, my hands latched firmly onto my com pad. Well, it would depend on the context of the situation. Moments later, we heard a huge explosion, coming from the pavilion, and we ducked down under the table. Everything molded onto our walls fell down as the building shook heavily. The sound of the university's orbital gun going off finally rang fear into my heart. Okay, maybe, now it was time to panic and forget about school for a little bit.

"Okay, let's go," I yelled at Ed, grabbing his arm in order to get his attention.

What on earth was going on? The activation of the school's orbital gun only meant that something dangerous was happening. We both bolted for the door and were hit by a wave of smoke, coming from somewhere within the building. Strange! The fire alarms didn't go off to warn us about the fire which was rather puzzling. We got back in the room and closed the door back, to prevent the fire from coming into our room. An entire year of research was lined on the wall pads of our room and it would be a shame if all this work was destroyed.

"Forget the work," Ed growled at me, yanking me away from my data pads. "Our safety comes first, we can always do this another day, but we only live once."

Darn! He made a good point, but to just leave all this work behind and escape was something truly unbearable, and besides we were trapped in the room.

"We have to jump," I finally spoke, changing my demeanor.

I realized that some of my work had been transferred to the school's main system, which I could access anytime. All would not be lost as long as I had a com pad and my password. I could access my work from anywhere on the planet.

"It's probably 40 meters to the bottom, but I believe we can do it."

I didn't sound really reassuring, since I didn't honestly believe we could do it. A jump from this height was lethal—unless one of us had bio-enhancements done to our legs.

"What! Are you crazy?" Ed screamed at me from the top of his lungs. "We might as well just wait in here and die slowly!"

"Out of the question!" I yelled at him.

Doing that would only make all my efforts to getting my PhD absolutely worthless. Abruptly, I had a brilliant idea, but it was risky. I went towards the hologram monitor and pushed it away from the wall, looking for an opening somewhere within the wall. I found it; however, it was covered with cords and wires which made it difficult to go through it. I began pulling the cords carelessly, not worrying about electrical shock, until it looked almost safe to go through.

"You go first," Ed backed away like a chicken.
I had to admit, it did look a little unsafe to just waltz in. Anything, at this point, could happen. I went in first and signaled Ed to trail behind me, as we followed a path leading straight to the electric and ventilation system.

"Check your com pad and try to see if you can find a signal," I said, speaking to Ed, "That way, we can signal them to our position."

"Okay," Ed replied quickly and took out his com pad from his pocket. I could hear him type in something on his com pad as I crawled slowly, making my way towards the ducts.

"I got a signal," he said, sounding excited. "They are saying something about a creature inside our school, wreaking havoc. All the guards within the vicinity are all headed towards it in order to buy time, to allow the students to escape safely. It looks like we are on our own for now."

Hmm! A creature was in our school and all the guards were fighting it? I mean, just one guard would be enough to take out any creature, considering the weapons the guards carried. But to activate the school's orbital gun, and have it fire more than once, meant something was terribly wrong. I had to get out there and see for myself what was truly going on, because I wasn't buying all this talk for one second. It was probably just some cruel prank my classmates were playing on us. Finally, we reached the end of the tunnel and saw one of the duct fans still spinning. It was spinning too fast for us to just go right through it, so we had to find some way to jam it, but with what? I looked around and saw a loose cord. With my laser pliers, I cut it into two and jammed the other half into the fans. There was a terrible noise as the lights flickered on and off continuously.

"You Idiot!" Ed roared, with anger in his voice, "Tell me you didn't just cut the power grid cord and jam it into the vent's fan?"

Oh no! I think that was what happened since all the power went off and the cord glittered with electric sparks. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What was I thinking when I did that? We heard another loud noise and the ground trembled beneath our feet. The building was beginning to give out as small cracks appeared everywhere. It was only a matter of time before the entire floor gave out, and the whole building collapsed to the ground. With the fan jammed, I went through one of its loophole and reached the other side. Ed followed behind me, and we both hurried towards the other side of the building, scanning for an exit without any sign of fire. By some miracle, we found an empty elevator shaft, leading all the way to the ground. We were very fortunate that the elevator had powered down when the electric grid cord had been cut by me, of course.

"Let's go," I said to Ed, as I jumped on one on the elevator electric cables.

With no current running through them, the cables were harmless and quite useful as a means to escape. We proceeded down by sliding below, using the smooth surface of the electric cables until we reached the bottom. Once there, I opened the escape vent, near the elevator, and used it to get outside. Phew! As we got outside, I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my own two eyes. Half the school had been destroyed and the fight was still going on—somewhere behind our dorm building. Seriously, could one creature really be responsible for this much destruction? Honestly, who were they trying to fool? It looked like the after math of one big battle of plasma ballistics. The ground was filled with injured people as smoke was everywhere. Okay, maybe this wasn't a prank after all. I watched as our dorm building fell right in front of me, like a tall, old tree. From the rubble, I noticed several guards firing their weapons at something. It was really big, blue, and didn't seem to be affected by their weapons at all. The great creature ravaged through the soldiers like they were toys, destroying buildings in the process. I stood there, watching in silence, with my mouth wide open.

"What are you still doing here?" the faculty teacher, Miss Manrie, spoke to me, shaking me up. She was a slender, light tan, young woman—ten years my senior, with bright brown eyes that intimidated most of the students to their britches. "Get to your hover vehicle and flee now!"

She held my shoulder and shook me deeply, knocking some sense back into me. Her lips smirked with anger and a slight sense of fear. She looked back after hearing the creature roar and pushed me away. "Go now."

"Okay, I am going," I responded and slowly moved towards my mobile vehicle. I looked back at her and watched her still signal the other students away from falling buildings. "But what's going on, Miss Manrie?"

"No time to explain," she responded, harshly waving us both away. "You two, flee while you can!"

We listened and obeyed her instructions as we dropped the subject and dashed for our vehicles.

"Message me when you get to your house," Ed said, sliding into his hover vehicle. "I am going to find my girlfriend, she is probably in her dorm."

"Okay, Ed," I said, sincerely, saying goodbye to my friend. "Be careful out there, and get out if it's too dangerous."

"Well, you know me," Ed laughed and he flew off out of the parking lot, going towards the girls' dormitory.

"That's probably why I'm worried," I whispered and turned on my vehicle, ready to leave.

I knew Ed, all too well, to know how reckless and irresponsible he could be at times. I really hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid, because he was my friend and also my research project partner.

But still! Why was this all happening now? It just didn't feel real or I was just refusing to acknowledge the facts in front of me. Before taking off in my vehicle, I looked back one time and noticed the giant blue monster looking back at me. It was so big and frightening; it sent a chill down my spine. I had never seen anything like it before—it wasn't something normal. I felt like I was seeing something out of a horror movie. The ground collapsed as a huge explosion went off, trapping a lot of people underground. No! I didn't believe this for a second, but this was happening. Where did the explosion come from and who caused it?

"No, this can't be happening," I screamed and suddenly opened my eyes.

I was sweating and still unable to move my body at all. It was just a dream and yet all of this had happened in my past. It was the first time I had encountered the terror beast and definitely not my last. Oh! The old man was still working on my armor suit, from the other room, as I lay there motionless. He glanced at me for a second, and didn't say a thing for some unknown reason. All I saw him do was get back to typing some instructions into the central processor of the machine remodeling my armor. I found it surprising and yet amazing how well he was able to adapt and understand modern day technology, so easily. Just what was he? Possibly, an alien or some sort of genetically enhanced being. Could I really trust him?

Darn! I didn't have a choice—seeing as that, he was the only being I could find at the moment, on this desolate planet. But, still, why was I having that dream now? There was something about that time I just couldn't forget and I didn't know what exactly. It felt like my dreams were reminding me of something important, something to do with that day I had forgotten. I took one big breath and got frustrated at the thought of not being able to wipe the sweat from my face. I was stuck in this position while my armor was being repaired. After a few minutes, I gave up trying to move my limbs and closed my eyes, hoping to get some real sleep. I could only hope that I would not start dreaming of my past again, because it was starting to get annoying and irritating.

4

Something sure smelled good, like roasted beef with extra sauce and garlic? Nope! I think that was just my burned skin I smelled. For some unknown reason, I smelled like tasty food. I opened my eyes slowly, like I had awakened from a long sleep. The light in the room was so bright; it hurt my eyes every time I blinked. I shielded my eyes completely, with my right arm, while getting up slowly. "This is amazing," I gasped in surprise.

My movements had become almost fluid, like the armor had become an extension of my own body. Damaged and broken parts had been repaired and replaced with new alloy coverings. The armor was so compact and light, my limbs moved effortlessly like feathers. I slowly turned my head, tweaking my neck back and forth. My muscles cracked loudly like I had been motionless for a long time. I looked up and did not see the alien man in the other room.

He had gone off somewhere without me. I needed to find him because he had answers I desperately needed. I moved out of the compartment, unhurriedly, stretching my body. Something was still off—there was power still surging through my armor from the nuclear power core. I could feel it still flowing from the central power processor, running deep into every circuit of the suit. Oh well! As long as it was stable, there was nothing to worry about, for now.

To my surprise, repairs had begun on the interior of the ship. Large metal sheets of platinum had been molded onto the dented walls, sealing the air pressure back in. I yawned out wildly, as I admired the handy work of someone truly brilliant. But who could have done this? Was this the alien man? No, it was impossible for one man to do all this in such a short time.

Suddenly, I saw people inside the ship; however, this wasn't the entire crew. They moved silently through the corridors, hurrying across the metal halls, very quickly. Their facial expression was alarming and they showed signs of life in their eyes. I looked at them for a second, wondering what was going on in their minds.

"Do you know where my father is?" a kid stopped and looked me directly in the eye.

My mouth opened, but no words came out. I bent down on one knee and thought carefully.

Honestly, I had no idea how to respond to the kid's question at all. How would I answer?

I didn't even know that a kid was part of the crew; he must have been a son of a crew member or someone who was smuggled onto our ship, when we were still back on earth. But if that was true, then where were they when we first arrived on this planet?

"I don't know, but when I do, I will let you know. It will work out somehow." I smiled with a nod and patted him on the head.

He smiled faintly, letting tears drip from his dark brown eyes. I got back on my feet and gradually walked away, leaving him to his thoughts.

My first objective was to find the alien man—every clue I had pointed directly towards him. He was hiding valuable information I desperately needed to acquire. He had fixed my armor, but to what extent? Was I going to die? I had to know something and he held all the playing cards in his hands.

But where could he be? I thought about it for a few seconds and the only thing that came to me was the main ship's engine room. After all, this man wanted to leave this planet as soon as possible; so it would make sense that I would find him there. More people walked past me, ignoring me, as they hurried away to unknown compartments. I looked at them for a minute before walking away, to the engine compartment. Once I got there, I looked around the entire compartment and found him among a few remaining engineers that had survived the incident. By some miracle, he was blending in rather well. His skin had taken a dark tan almost like mine. The alien man had even cut and colored his hair to a brown dark color, even changing his eye color. I was taken back for a while. He had completely camouflaged himself like a chameleon. Just what was his end game? I walked cautiously and approached him without drawing any attention to myself.

"We need to talk," I bent down and whispered close to his ear.

He looked up at me and frowned frantically, without ushering a word. The other men didn't notice our suspicious gestures and continued to work on the engines. He dropped the electric faucet down and got up to follow me. I led him down towards the secret basement beneath engine 14. Cautiously, I looked both ways and listened quietly, to make sure we were alone.

"Woke up cranky, I see," the old man snickered in a comment while working on a particle accelerator. "It's amazing that you made it through that entire process in one piece. Maybe, it's because your genes mutated, when you first fell into that hole, causing the activation of the massive neon alpha particles you stored in your body."

What! I didn't even have a clue about what he was talking about.

"What does that mean?" I asked him with a puzzled expression. "If what you say is true, then I am either very fortunate or very unlucky. Just tell me something, old man, what is happening to me?"

He glanced at me for a few seconds with curious eyes and then burst out loud in laughter, "I don't really know honestly. You have somehow gained the ability to breathe the outside air like me without the need of an oxygen tank. Your cells and lungs are still for the most part normal. However, it appears you have an extra organ, connected to your heart—which might explain why you can breathe outside. I am sorry, Den, but the process is irreversible; the neon alpha particles bonded permanently with your central nervous system. I can't say for sure what the long-term side effects will be; however, I will run a few more diagnostics before I can know for sure."

Oh! It wasn't as bad as I thought, but I imagined the worst was still to come in the following weeks. But how and why did I now possess an extra organ? Oh well! There was no sense in thinking more about it, since there was nothing I could do to remove it from my body; plus it had proved useful in keeping me alive through this whole ordeal.

Out of the blue, he looked shocked as he walked towards one of the engines. "This engine has been tempered with; someone on the inside did this."

I walked towards him and observed where he was pointing at. He was absolutely right—there was something jammed inside the engine turbines, something very dense and strong. Who could have done this? A frightening thought suddenly dawned on me. "I'll be back. I need to check something."

I left him where he was standing and got up to the second level, to check the other engines. It was the same thing. All the engines had malfunctioned, due to inside interference. In theory, it explained why the ship had spiraled out of control. If something was jammed into the engines, then there was no way we could have regained control of ship. Honestly, not the answer I was expecting to find. I walked slowly to engine one and bent down to observe the metal thing jammed in the turbine. This was no ordinary metal, it was still pulsing with an unknown energy source. I gripped my hand on it and tried to pull it out. It was stuck hard and it looked like it had been placed there during descent onto the alien planet. Things were definitely not looking too good at the moment. I got up and went back to the alien man, beneath engine 14.

"Well, you were right, all the engines were sabotaged."

"Do you know anyone in your crew who could have done this?"

"No, I don't, but I think I will soon enough."

He sighed slowly and began walking towards the metal stairs, in silence. He glanced back at the engine, with a face of frustration before continuing up. I couldn't help, but wonder what he was thinking. He was hiding something and I needed to know what.

"Wait! I have to ask you something."

"Can it wait? I have to get back to work."

"No, it can't, now listen carefully. You have something I want and I need it now."

"And what is it?"

"Answers!"

He laughed and began to walk upstairs, ignoring me completely. I guess diplomacy wasn't my area of expertise. I quickly took out my pistol and pointed it directly at him. The alien man stopped moving after hearing the safety go off. "You don't want to do this, kid."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"I see," he turned his head and walked back towards me. "What do you want to know?"

"Who were those people who kidnapped my crew," I growled at him, pointing the gun at his chest cautiously.

He didn't answer. His eyes looked cold and dark like the deep abyss. I detected no ill intent towards me written on his face. There was something rather odd and strange about the way he was standing. I was no expert at body language, but I somehow knew to tread carefully around him.

"You will find out soon enough," he replied to me with a cold smile. "The truth is a two way door. You can't learn something without losing something."

"Enough riddles," I walked up to him and grabbed his neck with my free hand. "What are you hiding? This time, I won't hesitate."

"Your gun has no bullets," he chuckled without the slightest sense of fear in his eyes.

What! I took my eyes off him, for a second, to check the weight of my gun. Before I knew it, he had slipped out of my arm and had me pinned against the wall. The strength and power in his grip was incredible. I could barely budge a muscle even though I was wearing the armor. I looked into his eyes and felt a tremendous blood lust; a killing intent perspired profoundly from his serious face. I felt a jolt of fear rush in me.

"You hesitated. Big rookie mistake! If I was your enemy, I could have killed you."

Fear flushed all over my face. I felt like I was going to die at that point. His whole demeanor completely intimidated me beyond a doubt, but I still couldn't give up, just yet. There were questions I needed answered. I freed my hands and began to pry open his grip. His left knee connected with my chest plate so hard it sent shocks into my body. I took a gasp of air as I dodged a right hook that came from nowhere. He was fast and terribly strong. I managed to free myself from him as I staggered on my legs for a bit. This man! Or this alien! Whatever he was, I couldn't win, in a fair fight against him. My best chance lay in picking up my gun that had fallen to the floor.

"Do not take your eyes off me," he commented, coming from my right blind spot.

My body contorted right automatically to counter his attack. However, my reaction time was a second too slow to evade him. His fist connected with my face, sending me staggering back against the wall. It felt like he had smashed my cheeks back into my skull. My hands found their way to my face, covering it completely from another attack. I felt a massive inflammation the likes of which I had never felt before. Oddly enough, he had put no weight in his last punch, which in turn is why I still had my head. Was he underestimating me? I couldn't see him, but I felt his movements stop completely.

"Are you ready to yield, kid? You can't win against me."

"I am not a kid. You have something I want and I will do what I have to get it."

"Are you sure? This is the thanks you give to someone who helped you?"

"Like I said before, desperate times!"

I got back on my feet and squinted heavily. His punch had left a nick of agonizing pain close to my nasal passage, causing tears to flow endlessly down my eyes. Blinded by tears, my eyes lost sight of him for a second. In a twist of fortune, I caught a glimpse of my pistol on the metal floor. It was a few feet from me, within jumping range. Quickly, I rolled down and reached for it. My hand gripped it tightly as I rolled up. If I could get one good shot, I would take it. I wasn't trying to kill him, but slow him down. I swung my gun wildly into the air, once my vision had returned; however, he had gone.

"So, this was your plan?" the alien asked me, standing right in front me. The glimmer in his eyes looked menacing and irritating. I took a step back to gain some distance although that was a futile mistake. He caught my wrist and yanked away the gun from my hand. Just before it was out of my hand, the gun went off, hitting him in the arm.

I looked down on his arm and saw no blood, just as I had predicted. My intention, in the beginning, wasn't to fight him, but learn about his anatomy. His physical body was almost human, although I was still speculating. During our physical conflict, I managed to feel his pulse along with a beating heart, which only left me even more confused about his physical identity.

"Yeah, that was," I rattled, yanking my arm away from him.

As I had expected, his physical strength and speed increased under the influence of a different gravity. On this planet, the gravity was fifteen times stronger, but on the ship, it was fifteen times less—almost close to earth's gravity. I moved my eyes away from him and stepped back. I had acquired enough information I wanted from him for now.

"Are you satisfied?" he asked, rubbing his wounded arm.

Amazingly, the arm did not look injured or anything. I glared at him and nodded quickly. Gentleness settled into his eyes as he walked away calmly upstairs. He stopped briefly and glanced back. Alarmingly, I moved back cautiously as possible.

"Your armor handled well. It seemed the modifications I did to it increased your speed and reaction time threefold. How do you feel?"

"Well, I could be better if I could take all of it off."

"Like I said, kid, the armor was meant to be used for a one way mission with no point of return," he said, while sighing in frustration. "With the current technology on this vessel, there is nothing I can do for you. Although, I did come up with the brilliant idea of remodeling and modifying it with the advanced software I could build at the moment's spur."

He turned around and began to walk carefully up the stairs, causing loud clanking sounds with his feet. I followed him upstairs, since I was curious about the new armor modifications. Within seconds, I had caught up with him and walked besides him, in a constant pace. Honestly, it was hard to believe a few moments ago we were at each other's throats. Oh well, that whole feud was over now for good, hopefully. The knowledge I had acquired from him told me a lot about my new enemies which was not a bad start for me.

"Just what did you do?"

"I took scraps of platinum and aluminum alloy and blended them down on an anatomic level to make out coverings for your arms and legs. Your chest coverings were damaged, causing exposed circuits to malfunction around the nuclear power core. I took the liberty of replacing the damaged power circuits and this you will like."

He stopped suddenly and placed his hand on my chest cover piece. I looked down towards his hand, observing the chest cover carefully from an angular position. I was inclined to agree, there was something different about it. The covering looked completely singular compared to the rest of the suit.

"The chest piece took me forever to make," he commented, smiling faintly, while looking outside through the ship's fabric glass windows. "I made it with iridium, one of the rarest strongest metals in this galaxy. That should keep the nuclear power core stable and keep the explosion within a contained environment."

"So, it still might explode?"

"Yeah and no, depends on what you do."

I felt my hand slowly rise and touch the chest plate roughly. It was so smooth and yet solid strong, simply amazing. Although, I still preferred to have the armor completely off me, if possible. One thing kept bothering me above anything else, not knowing what his name was. I couldn't keep calling him the "alien man" forever. Why didn't he trust me?

Oh well, at the moment, his name didn't matter. I ran my eyes through my armor carefully—studying all the modifications. It was true, my reaction and speed had improved drastically. Every muscle movement was fast and accurately honed. In fact, I had barely felt any pain when he struck my armor, during our little fight.

"I am curious about one thing," I began and walked two steps towards him. "You didn't help me out of the softness of your heart. I am not stupid, you are up to something. Just what is it that you want?"

The alien man shrugged as if startled; his body tensed firmly while motionlessly saying nothing. He kept staring deeply into the morning sky, in a dazed manner, with his arms folded. By then, I knew something was up. A really deep fate changing secret he kept within him. I wanted to reap it out of him, but that was easier said than done.

He suddenly laughed out like a fanatic and stared back at me. One look into his eyes had me scared a bit. His eyes were dim dark, and reflected little light within them. "Are you always this suspicious about everything? Well, to make things short, I built the modifications because I need you to take part in a special mission, to retrieve component parts. I could have asked someone else, but the only people here are mostly engineers, wives, and children of the crew, who were placed inside the ship's panic room. There is a kingdom five hundred miles from here. I need you to find it and get some engine parts from one of the shipyard shops. Please try not to do anything reckless. Just get the parts and come back without drawing any attention to yourself."

So that was the reason; now everything started to make sense. All the pieces of my distressing puzzle were starting to slowly come together.

"But why can't you do it? You seem to know more about this behemoth planet, than I do?"

"I can't, Den, as you can see, I am needed here to help fix this ship. You wanted answers, right? Now I am pointing you in the right direction, so go. You won't find the truth here with me; you must go uncover it yourself."

"Darn! You do have a point."

There was more he wasn't telling me, and it seemed he wasn't going to tell me more than that. I backed away from the subject as I thought more carefully about what he said. Could it be true that there was actually a kingdom on this planet? But how was this all even possible? Who was it that was living here? Were they aliens or humans? So, a great deal of mysteries lay right in front of me, and I had no clue where to look first.

"One problem with that plan," I said and walked closer to him slowly. "I don't exactly, for say, fit in with the locals. I mean, seriously, it would be impossible to blend in on this planet, since I am human and I need to wear armor to move on this planet."

"I already know that," he cut me off quickly, before I could say more. "Don't worry about it, I took the liberty of creating a new dye, using some of the chemical compounds I found on your ship. I mean, look at me, I tested it on myself and it worked. This dye should temporarily turn your skin grey for a day or so which solves one problem. The other problem about gravity is of no concern since the interior of the kingdom reduces the effect of gravity inside. So you see—everything is good."

"Well uh!"

He left me speechless; it was like he knew what I was going to say before I could even say it. My jaw opened wide for a long second, although, no words came out. I placed my back against a wall, completely drowned in thoughts.

"Ugh! This was getting more complicated," I sighed out loudly and took a few steps back.

"Just calm down, I know how dangerous this mission is, so I took the liberty of adding a few more outer modifications to your armor."

"How will that help me, if the enemy is as strong as you? Yeah, I figured you are one of them or used to be one of them."

"Very smart; I realized a while back that you fought me just to test out my abilities and skills against your armor. That being said, I already had accounted for that fact which is why I added new parts and increased the output threefold."

Amazing, he had me figured out completely. His level of thinking was worlds apart from my own intellectual abilities. True, I had tricked him into sparring with me just to see how far apart our speed and power differences were. Sadly, it was just as I feared. Hand to hand combat was by no means an option, I had to rely on guns against these aliens and the terror beasts. I shrugged firmly and moved slightly, to the left, placing my left arm on my waist.

"Okay! So where are the modifications you were telling me about?"

I spoke to him as I massaged my stiff neck, with my right hand. I might as well go along with his plan. I figured it couldn't hurt to snoop around this planet and gather intelligence.

"Excellent," he commented with a great big smile and led me upstairs, to the other armory room, on the west side of the ship. "I worked on the equipment for two straight nights and came up with some great new ideas, and trust me, you will be impressed."

With the way he phrased everything, I was excited to say the least; and at the same time, worried. I mean, I wasn't sure if this equipment was going to work, considering I didn't know anything about him. Was he truly trustworthy? For all I know, he could be leading me directly into a trap. I suddenly noticed the giant walls of the armory room as we closed in. My eyes widened with sheer excitement; I had never been up this far before. This armory was restricted, only for Special Forces and high ranking personnel. I stopped in my tracks for a second, wondering if I should go in or not. With my military ranking, I wasn't allowed inside without permission from my superiors. However, circumstances were different and the captain was not here.

"Come on in," he spoke and signaled me towards the giant door.

The door slid apart automatically as the lights inside all turned on automatically. There was a strong smell of melted metal, lingering in the air. I walked in slowly, observing the room in amazement. It was much bigger than I thought, probably four times bigger than the one downstairs. Level 3 and above weapons bedazzled the walls in an ordered manner, from lowest rank going up. Strangely, the ground did not make any noises in response to my footsteps. I bent down and looked at it curiously. Far beyond ordinary, this floor was made from a silent metal—a very powerful and rare metal, with an ability to absorb any form of energy, especially sound.

"Take a look at this," he spoke from the other side of the room.

I got up and walked towards him in silence. I slid past broken glasses on the ground and hopped over a few fallen assault rifles. The whole armory was a mess, probably because of the crash.

I, unexpectedly, stopped and looked up at the walls. Honestly, I was not expecting to see such a sight. It was the work of a genius, simply astonishing. The modifications were beyond great, definitely not what I was expecting. I walked up towards them and raised my arm to take a closer look. My right hand straddled across the new arm bulky modifications intensely; most of them were enhancements that increased my strength as well as my flight capacity.

"It's amazing," I said, turning my head towards him. "I can't believe you built this all by yourself."

Hmm! I still couldn't believe it at all. The thought of him being the greatest genius was maddening. But the facts, in front of me, did not lie. Just who was he?

"Care to give it a spin?" he asked me, as he unloaded the equipment from the shelves. "It's really easy to use, plus I built you a modified AI system and a new microchip to allow you full access."

"Yes, please," I said, excited like a child receiving a birthday gift.

I guess this old guy wasn't as useless as I thought at first. He had his moments when he shined. Quickly, I fitted the new modifications on, following his instructions and activated the suit's new power grid and backup power generators. The armor modifications felt lighter, and felt comfortable in my thorax section. I stretched out my body while it was on, to test out its limit in terms of muscle movements. Everything was good to say the least, and the best part was it offered a variety of encrypted commands for more precise maneuvers. Without a moment's thought, I headed out towards the exit, ready to take off into the skies, to try out my new equipment. As a safety precaution, I reloaded more rocket fuel packets to my flight system in case of emergency. You never know when a few terror beasts could pop up. After all, this was their home planet. The main processor took a few minutes to load the data from the microchip into my suit's main hard drive, before allowing me full access to the weaponry and defense systems. Slowly, I learned manually how everything worked and which combinations were necessary in order to get it to become more effective. Once I began to hover from the ground, I sent one of the suit's small drones out to get a survey of the area. The small machine flew into the air quickly, blinking at every 5 second intervals, flying straight away from me. I stared lazily up into the morning sky, hoping to find some other ray of color.

"Scanning coordinates entered," I heard a very cold voice speak.

Whoa! I tugged my head briefly in a confused manner. Ghastly memories from academic school flowed back into me like a bad nightmare. My new AI sounded like one of my teachers from school, Miss Lina, the teacher who taught me Advanced Physics. At one point, in my life, I was frightened of taking her class since it was so hard—and all the other students who took it almost never passed. As it turned out, they were right; however, I did pass but just barely out of sympathy. All in all, I respected her as she taught me the true value in studying and determination, which were essential and necessary to passing all of my classes.

But to now hear my AI system speak in a voice similar to hers was just completely ridiculous, and just plain freaky. Darn! It was that alien man's idea to do this to me, he knew about my past somehow using a device unknown to me. It was possible he had built something that could read memories. I mean, if he could build me this armor suit, what were the odds he couldn't build something that could read memories? Well, whatever the case may be, I didn't really care that much since I was getting a great chance to try out a modified legendary suit from the second Planetary War.

I looked down, but suddenly remembered a particularly important detail. It was directly on the back of my mind, although, I just couldn't commit it to memory. Oh yeah! The crystal I found a few days ago? I remembered placing it in my left inner pocket, before boarding our main ship. I reached into my inner pockets and found nothing in there. I was sure I had not dropped it. It was that alien man, he must have taken it or was somehow involved in its disappearance. There was a surge of anger that slowly erupted within me. All that effort I had undergone to acquire it seemed in vain. I had to remember to ask him later about its whereabouts, just as soon as I was done with my test drive. I activated the flight system, through my com link, rupturing the wings to respond in a synchronized manner automatically. The thrusting wings caused my body to slowly ascend up into the air. I felt the outburst in the power output as I increased speed and trajectory. A blinking noise came online as my drone reemerged, descending into my vicinity. I stopped and paused in the air, watching the small drone return towards me. It slowly decreased velocity and found its layer within a secret compartment on my armor. Visual data popped up on my visor, displaying a serene map of the terrain all around me. The map covered about a distance of 20 miles in front of me. I angled my position firmly as I decided the location I would fly to first. There was a strong gust of wind that flew by me and back, with no precise direction. At this point, I started to wonder which direction the planet was orbiting. Was it clockwise or anticlockwise? Almost everything on this alien planet did not make any sense. On the other hand, it seemed to be morning for quite some time now. Very odd!

I shook my head while rechecking my suit's system one last time, to make sure everything was okay. Although, I had done it before, it didn't hurt to be sure. My suit's defense and offense system responded well, showing no signs of glitches or malfunctions. I slowly soared up higher, while trying out new maneuvers, pressing my luck as hard as I could. I tilted my head back and rotated my body laterally, in a diagonal pose. All my muscles responded tightly to my command, surging me further into a dangerous descent. Beyond the scope, my optic scanners picked up signals of an unknown object, closing in towards our ship. I stopped and hovered, motionlessly, with a little anxiety in my heart. Was it an enemy or friend? I wasn't expecting the aliens to return so soon, which rather put a tiny kink in our plan. My fist clenched as I took out an assault rifle and held it firmly, in my left arm. I was rather curious to see them first-hand, I could barely control myself. Slowly, I calculated the direction of their trajectory and plotted a course to intercept them. I increased the power output towards my flight system and blitzed it—towards the rendezvous point as fast as I could. The scanners went haywire, releasing high frequencies the alien ship was emitting.

"Hey, Ali," I said, using my com link to communicate. "I am picking up an unknown object possibly a terror beast heading towards the ship; I am on course to intercept it, over and out."

"Who is Ali?" He asked, responding quickly.

"It's you, I mean, I can't keep calling you an alien man forever, and you don't want to tell me your name."

"Ali! You know what—I like it," he laughed silently. "However, don't do anything reckless, the suit modifications are still prototypes and haven't fully been tested yet."

"I will try, but I won't guarantee anything."

"Don't say that! Proceed with caution; your new enemies are no amateurs—they will kill you if you get in their way. Honestly, I don't know if your long barrel revolvers will work with this prototype. If by some miracle they do, save them for emergency life threatening situations; but anything else, use your assault rifle and javelin bazooka missiles."

Right! That didn't sound too bad, bearing in mind, how many instructions he had piled on me earlier, when I was putting on the armor modifications. I looked directly beneath me, studying the landscape carefully for any secure vantage points. A streak of blue color flowed directly into every life force on the planet. If someone had told me a planet like this existed, I would have been skeptic—nothing on this planet could be explained using a basic textbook; it logically defied all beliefs.

"Okay, I will," I replied and turned off my com link connection to the ship, in order to remain undetected.

It would be bad if they intercepted the com link and learned both of our locations. If it was an enemy ship, I was going to follow it to its base and, hopefully, find the rest of my crew. After all, I had a bet to win. A lot of people were going to be disappointed when they saw me alive. I just wanted to see the priceless looks on their faces: definitely worth the risk. My scanners blinked loudly as I was getting closer towards the intercepting point. My heart paced quickly, anticipation brewing greatly inside. One problem, I still hadn't fully tested out the suit, and I had no idea its handling capabilities in a real battle. Suddenly, the sound on my com link intensified as I got closer to the unknown signature. To be accurately truthful, I had never felt intense frequencies this high and powerful before. The source of this signal did not belong to any technology developed on earth which was expected. There was definitely another intelligent life force residing on this planet; that much I was sure of. I thought for a second about what Ali had said to me about a kingdom 500 miles from here. But who were these aliens?

"Only one way to find out," I whispered to myself and shut my entire power system off, before landing on the ground.

My body slowly landed on the ground, in a quiet manner. I looked around, before jolting for a safe place to hide. If it was a terror beast, then there would be low frequency heat energy signatures, but the fact is, this object had a massive energy grid similar to that of the power fusion generator.

"Unadvisable to turn off all power to the suit," my new AI spoke to me, attempting to reset the power grid.

What the! I couldn't explain why this was happening and now of all times, just when we were in the travel route of an unknown friendly or foe. With my armor being black and shining brightly, in the middle of a blue forest, was not helpful at all. Impossibly, my AI had overwritten its control limiters, enabling it full access to my exoskeleton's mobility.

"Not now," I commanded my AI system, in a harsh manner. "Stand down now or prepare to be shut down from the main grid."

"That type of tone is irrelevant," it responded rudely.

Why was this happening now? This had to be some sort of messed up joke. I had never heard of an AI system that talked back to its operator and could turn on a suit's power grid. I was panicking and trying to stay calm at the same time, which clearly was not working in my favor. The scanners went off more intensely as I saw an unidentified ship, double the size of our hover ships, pass directly above me. It was mobile and so fast—it flew by me like a flash of lightning. Before I knew it, two small drones deployed from my armor suit and began attacking the ship with ferocious attacks. The ship made a hasty maneuver and began to turn back towards me suddenly.

"Of all the luck!"

My AI had taken over and was controlling the drones, coordinating their attacks on the unknown ship. I watched in shock, as I saw the ship slow down, coming in front of me. Gushing winds from its turbine-like thrusters blew against me greatly. My eyes opened widely out of shock and desperation. I tried to turn off my power grid and panicked, when I watched it slowly turn back on. It was rebooting at a speed far much more gradual than before.

"This is why I warned you not to turn off the power grid," my AI went on in a harsh tone.

An AI with an attitude problem was the last thing I needed right now, besides my other menacing problems. I looked at the alien ship and slowly backed away, with my assault rifle in front of me, aimed directly at the ship. Oddly enough, this ship was a little different from the ones that had kidnapped my crew members. Definitely smaller and colored light bluish, which was dissimilar to the other two ships. I felt a brush of fear crawl up my spine coldly. If I didn't do something fast, that ship was going to fry me instantly. I quickly rerouted all my reserve power to my backup power grid, and triangulated the time of impact it was going to take to evade an attack, using the light screen's calculation unit. The ship stopped and hovered above me motionlessly, like it was observing and studying me. With my current fire power, I had no chance against this new enemy. I quickly turned around and made my way through the hard terrain, looking for solid cover. Jumping up, I skidded past a few rocks in the way, while slipping through dense fogs of blue trees. The alien ship followed me, from above, keeping a slight distance a few meters up. My strategy was to lure the ship to a terrain with hills and lots of hiding places, and then hitting it with everything I had. I looked back and smiled as I saw the alien ship follow behind me.

Not surprising, the small drones' attacks were not inflicting any damage to the ship, at all. Out of nowhere, a loud whirling noise erupted from the ship, making me glance back quickly. Something was forming from its anterior end. Almost as if particles were being compressed into a single wavelength. I could feel the power screeching and hear the intense noise, as if it was close to my ears. The ship had a guided laser system which was bad for me. One hit from that and I would be a goner.

I blinked once and saw the ship fire the laser at me so fast I had no time to react. My eyes widened as I saw the laser draw closer to me. Before I knew it, my suit moved on its own, making me duck in time. I heard the laser collide with a tree, a few meters from me. There was a loud explosion that emerged, but luckily enough, I had moved a good bit far from it. The ship kept following me, ready to fire at me again.

"You are welcome," my AI commented sarcastically to me.

Yeah! I wanted to say thank you to it; however, my ego was way too big to admit anything. I quickly dashed through the terrain, moving through rocks and trees, in a zigzag manner. Patiently, I waited for the right moment to make my counter attack—and right now, was not it.

"The backup system is now active."

"Excellent!"

Everything was going according to plan. Swiftly, I spun my body back and moved behind the ship to begin my assault. I jumped into the air, and began to accelerate up above it with my assault rifle in front. With only three reserve magazines, I had to be careful not to waste the bullets. The ship made a quick turn and rotated back towards me. It was at that moment, I realized the ship had a 4D maneuvering system, allowing it to make what would be otherwise impossible turns. Rather a malicious ability to have, meaning I had to adjust my plans a bit.

I ascended 3000 feet into the sky and began attacking it with my assault rifle. The bullets bounced away from the ship like small, soft balls. I found no weak points on the outer structure of the ship. I tilted my back slowly as I descended far away from its firing range. Ultimately, this ship was like a machine version of a terror beast because of how tough the exterior was.

"Wait! That's it."

If this machine was built like a terror beast, then one of its weaknesses had to be inside it. I paused for second, doubting my chances of getting close enough. I still had my javelin bazooka, but I was saving it for a crucial time, when I became truly desperate.

"Find a point of weakness," I commanded my AI while circling the ship at high speed.

"Did you say please?" it responded me quickly.

"Is this a joke?"

"No its not, you need to say please."

I felt a surge of anger rise from within me. Thankfully, I suppressed it and thought rationally. Definitely did not have time for this, but I swallowed my pride.

Out of options I urgently responded, "Please, may you find a weakness on that ship?"

I had never ever in my life begged an AI unit for anything, so doing this, for the first time, just felt degrading. Just what kind of modifications had that old man done to my AI unit? It wasn't that I wasn't thankful, but it was just so annoying to have to talk to my AI like it wasn't a program unit designed to follow my commands.

"There are no weakness points on this ship," it said, showing me the main layout of the ship taken by one of the drones. "The ship's structure is very rigid and very hard to penetrate; assault on any caliber beneath level 3 is useless."

Maybe! I briefly placed my assault rifle back in its holster, on my back, and concentrated on the alien ship's laser system. Although, the ship had a hard exterior, its laser beam system was complex and less guarded. Pausing in the air, barely blinking, I counted the intervals between each time it charged and fired the laser. Last time, it had taken approximately thirty seconds; definitely not enough time to get close and fire an accurate shot. I quickly unsheathed my javelin bazooka and placed it firmly on my shoulder. The scope adjusted aimlessly at the moving target, giving me no clear shot at it.

I slowly followed the ship with my scope, aiming to fire a proton missile at the ship's weapon, when it is getting ready to fire at me, like I had done with the lizard. My heart raced as I knew one mistake could end it all. Weapons aside, I seemed to have the advantage since I had the high ground. The ship paused steadily, in the air, as a large flash of red light erupted from it. I ducked quickly by twisting my body to the left, taking advantage of the momentum built within my left wing. The laser narrowly missed me by a few inches as it sped up into the air. I tilted my head down and pointed my javelin bazooka one more time, hoping to get an accurate shot.

"Now what?"

The ship suddenly started to shake heavily releasing massive jolts of energy. Without warning, the alien ship split into four smaller mobile units and began to attack me separately.

"Not good at all," I quickly turned around and began soaring out of the way, trying to get some distance between myself and them.

The small ships followed me instantly, keeping up with me, despite all my attempts to shake them off. To make it worse, they were firing smaller random flashes of red lasers in every direction. I was barely able to evade them all, as one of the lasers blasted my left wing thrusters. I twisted my body towards the right as hard as I could, to stabilize myself and took a deep descent dive towards the ground. Three of the ships followed me down without hesitation while one remained behind motionless. Rather strange and odd, the small alien vehicle just hovered there motionlessly for a while. Just what was it doing?

Slowly but surely, I decreased my speed while carefully observing the three small ships coming towards me. Their movements were well coordinated and so fluid, it was hard to believe any person or alien could move like that. Wait, it started making sense now. I looked at them quickly just to make sure. As it turns out, I was right. The reasons these ships were so coordinated was because they were controlled by drones. However, the fourth ship was a different case, definitely had no idea if it was an alien or drone. I faintly slanted my whole body as I leveled myself, while flying a few meters above ground. The small ships still continued to fire at me, forcing me to take excessive measures in order to evade them.

"Head for the trees and make your stand there," my AI shouted at me quickly from the explosions.

"That could work."

Odds seemed more favorable for me below than in the air. My body jolted, a massive amount of pain rattling throughout my body. I had been hit by something terribly powerful like a laser. I staggered towards the ground and landed hastily through the thick, tall grass. For a few seconds, my head hurt and throbbed badly. I heard a loud buzzing noise as the ship passed above me quickly. I opened my eyes slowly, panting in pain. A slight electric buzz sound erupted from both my flight wings. It seemed I had been grounded permanently. The wings had been damaged beyond minor repairs; I couldn't hover anymore, let alone fly. I took a long, hard glimpse around the terrain, trying to make sense of my new location. There were large mounds of rocks and hills around me—absolutely perfect. I could use the surrounding to hide and attack at will. The ships turned around and rocketed back towards me for another attack. My scanners went wild as one of the ships lowered itself, speeding straight towards me. By the time I could react, the ship was right in front of me. I ducked down by pushing myself forward, watching the ship to slither above me. For a minute, I dared not blink or move at all. The whole situation was starting to get out of hand. Clearly not what I signed up for, when I decided to come to this stupid planet.

If this was my end, I certainly didn't want it to come lying down. Every fiber in my body told me to get up and fight. But what exactly was I fighting for? Any action I took only caused more turmoil and confusion. I wanted all the fighting to stop for good. My reason for being on this planet was to end the reign of terror caused by the beasts. It was then—I realized what I had to do; I had no choice, but to fight. If I wanted change, I had to fight for it.

Raising my weapon, my feet apart, my breath shallow, I took aim, showing no fear or hesitation. But it was still too soon to fight them. I dashed through the grass quickly and stopped, once I was well hidden out of sight. The alien drone ships flew past me, firing mercilessly through the terrain. I shielded myself with my hands while studying their rhythm and timing. Everything around me was slowly collapsing onto the ground, but I did not falter. I firmly stood my ground and raised my javelin bazooka when the opportunity came. One of the ships had decided to come in close to the ground, in a straight line. Perfect, I quickly aimed and fired directly at its laser mount system. Sixteen missiles shot out and hit the ship simultaneously. An explosion erupted as the ship went down fast and quickly. I found myself instinctively dodging to the left from a flaming steering system.

"One down, three more to go!"

Massive red flames consumed the ship before another explosion started. Something else was fueling this fire and it was not oxygen. This red burning fire seemed rather dangerous, meaning I had to stay away from it. I slowly took some steps back, while looking up in the sky. The small ships had began to attack again with extraordinary precision. Realizing I was in the open, I turned around and ran quickly through the area not covered in fire. I felt one of the ship come straight behind me, slowly closing in. With no way to turn and fire, I continued to run, searching for something to use to my advantage. Luckily, I found a tree not damaged and ran towards it. Not surprised, the ship followed me which played well to my plan. Just as I skidded past it, I turned around and maneuvered my body to the lining of the trees as fast as I could. The second ship flew past me as I aimed and fired at point blank. I felt my body tingle slightly with pain as I watched another explosion happen, near the ship's gyro system. Not exactly how I planned, but it was better than nothing. Amazingly, I was doing better than I planned. Loud winds blew past me, sending a small ray of red fire my way. The fire was intense and burned hotter than regular oxygen fueled fire.

"You are kidding, right?"

As I was getting ready to attack again, the other drone ship sped past me going somewhere. On no, it was heading in the direction of our main ship. However, the one hovering above me just stayed there without moving. I took a gamble and tried to aim for the fleeing mini ship, but it was then, the fourth one attacked me. I bit my lip in frustration and turned my attention towards the forth ship which was descending down slowly. There was someone piloting it inside. I could see the heat signatures through my scanners. I slowly raised my javelin bazooka at the ship and aimed carefully towards it. Talking with the unknown enemy seemed to be out of the option, as the only way I saw things was to stop force with force. My com link went haywire as I lost full communication. It was like something was jamming the frequencies. Good, I had enough missiles to counter and strike, but the only problem was that I had no idea what the forth ship was going to do. It hovered gradually for a while, without making any threats at me. I slowly moved back, scanning for higher ground I could use to counter the threat. Suddenly, it fired a giant, massive laser at me, catching me off guard. I staggered to the ground while barely getting out of the way. The force of the laser was so strong that it nearly took my head off. I had been careless in letting the enemy get the best of me. Without the spare of the moment, the ship attacked again. I quickly ran out of its path, evading my imminent doom. The whole terrain was destroyed in a matter of seconds.

"You dirty yowser!"

Anger surged inside me as I raised my weapon, aiming to fire at the ship. I released the safety lock and aimed quickly. My hands tingled strongly with an innate desire for vengeance. Eccentrically, I couldn't pull the trigger at all, even when my mind told me to. What was wrong with me? This wasn't supposed to happen. Everything felt wrapped and out of place. If it was an hour ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to fire at my enemies, but something within me had changed. What was happening to me? Had my heart been slowly changing, ever since I fell down the pit—when Peter shot me? I think it had something to do with me meeting the old, alien man. Our encounter seemed to have opened my mind to all other possibilities. Nah, maybe it was this unhinging air that was trying to unnerve me and make me lose my most lethal edge. Whatever it was, I wanted it gone, since it was making my fighting spirit weak and a liability. The ground trembled heavily as I fell backwards with my hands behind me. Fortuitously, I landed on my arms and the impact was not strong enough to break them. Breathing heavily, I tried to grab what little sanity I had left from the unending madness and got back on my feet, in anticipation of another attack. To think this was how my life would end: what a joke.

"I can't let it end like this."

The ship started to move swiftly, drawing closer to me. I stood firmly, placing my hand on the switch trigger. My heart pulsed greatly; all I wanted to do was end it. I felt myself slip into a raging maniac like state that threatened to destroy everything around me. I wasn't thinking straight, everything seemed just like a blur in time.

"Look out, you fool," my AI screamed and I quickly came back to reality.

I looked up and saw a beam of energy coming straight towards me. My eyes could keep up, but my body was too slow to react. Swiftly, the armor moved by itself, slightly evading what could have been a fatal disaster. Up to that point, I had no idea what was happening or how my suit had moved by itself. I caught up to reality and turned my gaze towards the ship. The wavelength and intensity of this laser was great and powerful. One hit and I would be vaporized instantly. This type of spatial coherence was amazing; not only could it cut through matter—it could largely disperse through a whole area. Was something like that even possible? Rather remarkable technology and worlds apart from what we had on earth. Trying to make a laser beam cover a larger area without changing its narrow collimator and spectrum was still difficult. Certain variables had to be worked out; however, it seemed they had prevailed over them. Every fiber in me told me to get away from this place as soon as possible; although, that seemed unattainable at the moment.

Soft currents of flames flew past me from the ground—everything seemed ablaze. I took my eyes back towards the alien ship and sighed slowly. Somehow, my best chance lay in luring it into a narrow space and then hitting it with every missile I had. I searched around and saw a narrow path linked between the alien trees. Perfect, I turned around and dashed towards it as fast as I could. As planned, the ship followed behind, recharging its laser cannon. I jumped past a few rocks and side turned through a few trees, staying out of sight of another laser attack. Once I was within range, I turned around and switched my weapons. I began to fire all my proton bullets, aiming for the laser beam system cannon. My plan was to weaken the structure, just enough to weaken its compressing power. Another laser was shot at me and I dropped down, ducking with my hands on my head. I felt the immense power of the laser engulf my back with so much intensity and pressure. Ten seconds later, I got up in pain and raised my javelin bazooka, ready to fire. There was a thirty second interval between each laser beam. I was going to take advantage of it. My legs locked, and my tendons tightened heavily; I lowered my breath and pulled the trigger quickly and hard. A barrage of missiles shot out of my weapon so fast I hardly saw them.

The air went black as the missiles exploded on contact; the shockwave was so strong, it pushed me hard backwards. I had aimed for the laser system, planning to disable it—just enough to force the ship to retreat back to its base. But it seemed I might have gone a little bit overboard. A loud ash of gray smoke erupted everywhere, blurring my vision. I covered my visor for a bit and listened carefully. All was silent. Harshly, a violent explosion broke the silence, making the metal clank against the fire. Something flew past me, hastening in an unknown direction. In the moment, I realized it was the ship and I quickly took out my gun. Just to be certain, I placed a tracking bullet inside it, and shot it at the ship. The bullet stuck on the ship and began making small blinking noises.

"Well, that was fun!"

I didn't bother following the ship, since I could track it with my com link system. Safe to say, this wasn't exactly how I had imagined my suit test flight going. But it was finally over. At last, I could say the easiest part was over: now came the hard part. I wanted to quickly go after the drone ship which had escaped me. I postulated it was going to attack the ship, but I wasn't worried since Ali was there, and he would keep everyone safe. With my wing system damaged, I couldn't glide there, so, instead, I started walking back.

"What a stubborn boy," my AI went on, in a rude tone. "At least you did one thing right."

Darn it! I didn't have time to be dealing with this right now especially from a robot. If I could choke an AI, I think I would have done it a while back, because this one was really getting on my nerves. Looking down, on my tracking scanner, I located the alien vehicle traveling gradually in the location west of me, far from the ship. I sighed deeply and began to limp my way back to the others.

"I am coming," I whispered as I walked. "You can bet a nickel on that."

But could I still do it? There was still doubt in my heart that throbbed greatly. Fear shook me deeply, as I tried to get a hold of what remained of my courage. I could feel every fiber of my muscles twitching with pain and all my joints too weak for movement. Could I make it to the others in time? I bit my lip and tried to swallow, but couldn't as my mouth was dry. I had no memory of how far I had walked as my vision was blurry. It appeared as if something was wrong with my body; possibly, my shoulder wound had reopened and I might have lost a lot of blood during my fight with those alien vehicles.

"Found you," a familiar voice echoed out towards me, before I collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. "It took a while to track your energy signal, but oh well, good news is that I found you still alive."

I somehow lifted my head and saw the old man; he was looking at me with such piercing eyes. "Well, it seemed your armor wasn't as powerful as you made it seem," I commented, with a small grin.

"Probably," he mumbled, while helping me stand, "but like I said before, it was a prototype—far from being complete."

"There was a ship coming your way, we have to stop it."

"I took care of it, so you don't have to worry about it."

"How did you do it?"

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I destroyed the small drone ship."

"Okay, if you say so; by the way, nice touch with the AI system. I really hated it."

"Figured you would like it, your old AI had limited operation capabilities."

"Yeah, it was built that way, because we can't allow machines to have full control of all our suit systems."

"Rather stupid if you ask me. There are tasks even you can't perform in time."

True! He did have an accurate point. There was a point when I saw the laser coming and could not react in time. However, thanks to the armor AI, I evaded the worst case scenario.

"Wait! What's wrong with you?" he screamed, rushing towards me and grabbing my hands. "I think you are suffering from Neon Alpha poisoning."

Suddenly, I felt fatigued and truly sick to my stomach. There was a pure raw taste of iron in my mouth as if blood was spewing from within me. Before I knew it, I closed my eyes and slowly fell into an unwanted sleep.

5

"Den! Get up now!"

There was a voice calling out to me, but I didn't recognize it. It was so cold and unfriendly and yet it sounded sort of familiar, like I had heard it somewhere. I opened my eyes and pierced into the unknown silence. There was nothing but darkness around me, even with my eyes wide open. Just who was calling up to me? I yearned to know who it was, and yet I also feared the unknown. I found myself saying, "Who is it?"

This oblivion of darkness was truly maddening to say the least. What kind of a dream was this? No, it was more of a nightmare than a dream.

"I am down here," the voice growled, in a terrifying tone.

I slowly turned my gaze towards the ground in fear. I didn't know exactly what to expect when I looked down. To my surprise, there was a small light of energy, near the bottom. It looked bright to me, well, compared to this infinite darkness. Without my approval, my body started to move directly towards it, like it was being drawn in by something. "Now what?"

I tried to regain my body movement, but nothing worked as I was drawn closer to the light. Once it was within my grasp, I felt fear beyond anything I had ever felt. Just what was I afraid of? What was this feeling that shook me deep down inside?

"I summoned you here to fulfill the deal you made with me a few centuries ago."

What! I had no clue what it was talking about; I had not even been born that long ago! The light glowed even greater, forcing me to shield my eyes with my hands. "I have no clue what you are talking about, I don't even know you. You must have the wrong person!"

"No, I don't," it screamed out to me. "You have the same genes as the man who sealed the deal with me, centuries ago. I am a symbiotic based life form and part of me was inscribed in your DNA when you were born."

Creepy! So weird that I had stopped listening when it mentioned centuries. My body trembled boisterously with terror. But how would I tell it nicely that it had the wrong person? This dream or whatever was nothing short of outlandish. My hands ran through my thighs, looking for pockets; however, I found nothing in them. I had no guns, grenades, or javelin missiles to defend myself with against this unknown enemy.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I can easily destroy your body so quickly you won't even recognize what happened."

"Whoa! Take it easy, I was just searching my pockets, okay? You don't have to threaten me up to prove your point."

The strange light got even brighter and bigger as it illuminated the darkness away. I shielded my eyes with my hands, closing them in the process. Just great! It went from being too dark, to being too bright. Why couldn't I just get what I asked for sometimes?

"Remember, keep your end of the bargain," it roared and just vanished, leaving me clueless in the dark.

"Wait, what bargain? What are you talking about?"

I suddenly opened my eyes and I was back in the real world or what I viewed as reality. Just what was up with that dream? My mind couldn't make any sense of it? I felt itchy and very tired, for some reason. There was a sagacity of heavy sweat covering my eyes and forehead. Unfortunately, I found it hard to forget my dream. It looked so real and yet it was horribly frightening at the same time.

"You are one lucky guy," someone spoke to me.

Whoa! I was startled, causing me to move back from the position I was lying in. Apparently, I was not the only person present in the compartment. I looked up and noticed two people in the room, a few meters away from me. One was a boy, and the other was a girl. They looked at least 18 years old or so. If I had to guess, I would say they were twins. The uncanny resemblance was just too hard not to notice.

"Not a lot of people have ever survived Neon Alpha poisoning," the girl commented, with a faint smile. She folded her arms and leaned her slender back on the wall softly.

"Cool down, sis," the boy chuckled, sitting on the chair, next to me. "This guy looks like he's been through hell, so let's just leave him alone."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we can't; we are all stuck in this room together until our wounds heal, so shut up!" the girl screamed, clinching her fists.

"Oh really," the boy roared, "Do you wanna start something sis cause I have all day, and I have been waiting 18 years for this moment?"

Oh no! What was happening right now? It seemed I was caught in the middle of a family feud. I had to get out of here, but my body was still too weak to move about. I tilted my head and moved a few inches to the left, trying to get a bit further away from them.

"But, I'm glad we are thinking along the same lines, brother," the girl replied, cracking her knuckles and moving towards her brother.

This situation was getting out of hand. Just where was Ali when you needed him? The boy jumped up in the air with his fists in front, towards his sister. I could feel the killing intent in both of their eyes, as they came out lashing at each other. Their fists connected hard like they were two enemies, like they were complete strangers to each other. This was not really happening, was it? Slowly, I paced far away—to the back wall and positioned myself with my arms in front of me. This made me somewhat glad I didn't have a twin sibling. It was hard to believe they were related at all. I heard the roaring slam of fists hitting tendons firmly. This ticked me off so I got up and moved myself into the middle of them.

"Stop fighting, please, you are brother and sister!"

They both stopped, the girl's fist barely missing my forehead by a few centimeters.

"Whoa, we shouldn't be fighting like this," the girl commented first and let her hands drop down. "This isn't right at all."

"Yeah, you are right, sis, this isn't the way," the boy smiled, patting his swollen cheek. He looked badly hurt with a small sprinkle of blood coming from his nose. His eyes simmered with rage and bloodlust. "Hand to hand combat is for babies: I have something better in mind."

Quickly, he commented and pulled up a small portable bazooka from his clothes. Whoa! Just where had he been hiding that weapon? Briefly thereafter, I removed myself from the middle and moved towards the door. I had no intention of getting caught in the middle of an all out battle.

"That's right, brother," the girl laughed, drawing out a proton laser long sword. "It is time we ended this fight for good."

Oh no, the door wouldn't open for some reason. My heart paced rapidly like it was going to burst out of my chest. I felt a huge weight of anxiety crush me bit by bit. Were they really serious? Great, just when I had awoken from a terrible nightmare, it seemed I was being thrown back into another one. I glanced back at them, positioning my back to the door. Unexpectedly, the door opened, causing me to almost fall back. Luckily, I was able to lock my left knee firmly, helping me stay on my feet.

"I see you have met your new traveling companions," Ali walked in with trays of food. "The girl is Dalla and the boy is Rick. To make things short, they are your new traveling companions."

"You are joking, right?" I shook my head carelessly.

There was absolutely no way I was going to allow this to happen. These maniacs were loose screws and it seemed they could go berserk at any minute. The last thing I wanted was to have those two idiots compromising the mission. "Not going to happen, Ali."

I glared at him intensively, trying to show him how serious I was. For some reason, my knees kept giving out. I still hadn't made a full recovery yet. I went and sat back down by my bed lightly. All my muscles ached and caused me excruciating pain.

"Come on, Den," the old man put the food next to my bed and sat down. "By yourself, you can't complete this assignment. Time is running out."

I shook my head and closed my eyes for a few seconds, lost in thought. I hated to admit it, but he was probably right. Seemed the more I stayed on this planet, the more complicated things became. The walls echoed silently, while I considered my options. I looked through the window and saw a glimpse of the sun. Honestly, on this planet, it was hard to tell whether there was any sense of night and day. On an interesting side note, daylight seemed to last an eternity compared to night. I couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck here—let alone living here.

"What I want to do is still the same, I have also reason to believe that the rest of your crew is still there," he continued, as he adjusted his weight by shifting his axis. "I recognized the symbols from the videos you recorded on your com link screen. I also know what is happening on earth, and if I'm right, I have a feeling that earth is doomed."

Doomed! What was he talking about? I looked up and pierced into his eyes directly. He adjusted himself, balancing both feet on the floor, with one hand against the bed. He knew something and I was curious and scared. The twins set by the table, far in the corner, leaning against each other. What a bunch of bipolar fools.

"What is about to happen to earth now? What is going on?"

He didn't answer at all. Instead, he sighed slowly and looked away. "If my theory is right, the kingdom of Raz finally perfected their inter-dimensional gate, giving them the ability to freely manipulate light space—this is not good."

"Whoa! Wait a minute," I stopped him, since what he said didn't make sense. "What you are saying doesn't make sense. How is this related to the terror beasts on earth?"

"Like I said, it's just a theory, you'll just have to wait and find out for yourself. Since you hid the truth from me about earth, I'm going to do the same to you, and let you find out for yourself?"

True enough, I hid the truth away from him, so it was only fair he would do the same thing to me. Although, keeping such a vital secret from me was rather annoying and downright frustrating.

"You leave tomorrow morning so get enough sleep, and get to know each other better," he finished and got out of the room.

"Wait, when is morning?"

"In 7 hours from now."

"See you boss," the twins replied at the same time, which was almost freaky.

I looked back at them and shook my head sloppily. Their carefree attitude was nothing but ruse for their psychopathic tendencies. I had to get out of this room, the air and tension in the room was just too heavy.

I don't know what was happening on earth, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. It didn't take a genius to figure that much out as time was running out. My body ached so much and my eyes were still a bit blurry.

"Sit down," Dalla spoke with a stern face. "Your body is still too fragile and you need to recover."

"For once, I agree with you, sister," the boy commented. "No! No! I can't agree with you, sister. So I'm gonna say the opposite: you can do it, Den."

Oh great! It was starting all over again. I simply had no clue what was wrong with these siblings. Although, the food, on the bed, smelled really good. What to do? I really wanted to stay and eat, but at the same time, I didn't want to stay in the same room with these maniacs. Seconds later, I left the room and the food, and went to the bathing compartments. For a long hour, I sat in the bath tub, armor and all, just thinking to myself. Everything was in complete chaos. To make things worse, I still had no clue what was happening on this planet. Nothing seemed as it appeared. I was desperate for answers and I knew where to start. I exited the bathing compartments, once I was clean and went around snooping. Suddenly, my eyes came across a lab even I couldn't get to. It was so highly secure that no one, except for high ranking scientists could access it. Slowly, I tip toed my way to the door as curiosity had gotten the best of me. I took a deep breath and proceeded towards the nearest wall to the door. There were no guards or scientists in the vicinity, leaving the door completely unguarded. The sensory scanners didn't go off like before, as the com link surveillance center was still static. I didn't have to hack my way in to enter this time. It was always a mystery to me as to what was inside. Since I was still just a space biologist, I didn't have enough clearance to get in. Nevertheless, today, I would get my chance. As I got close to the door, I heard a click and it opened suddenly.

"What's going on?"

It wasn't programmed to do that at all since it only opened with a password. However, I wasn't complaining since I hoped that it would be easy to get in. For it to be this easy wasn't exactly giving me the thrill I was looking for. Why was I thinking too much about it? The lab was dark and quiet, as if it had been vacant for a while. There were no signs of life anywhere, and without a helmet, I had to rely on my own eye sight. As I tried to search for a light, I heard a loud thump, coming from somewhere in the room. There was a small red light in the middle that kept blinking on and off silently. The hair on the back of my neck stood up still as a little bit of fear crept into me. Quickly, I began to look for the light access panel or something that could make the darkness go away. Honestly, this was getting annoying. The interior lights inside the lab seemed to be malfunctioning or something. I walked around, but could barely make up anything. My hands fell upon lab utensils as I brushed past them carefully. I felt a silent deepening resonance complement each of my movements. This darkness was rather gloomy and cold.

"Wait, my armor."

There was a light screen system inscribed into every suit for situations like these. I looked all over my arms and legs and did not find it. My leg hit something solid and my gaze fell to the ground. I had no idea what it was or what my legs were standing on.

"If you wanted light you could have just asked," a voice spoke, and suddenly the room was bright.

It was a man from another science department; he was wearing a white lab coat and held a tuna burger in one hand. His eyes fell on me with an intense gaze. I knew this man—I had seen him before during briefing, before our main ship left earth. His name was Dr. Ion Berge and he was the lead expert in space technology, but what was he doing here? He went on the expedition with us, and I remember the entire crew being captured. The man slowly walked into the room and leaned against the table, next to a set of ice breakers.

"Surprised to see me?" he continued as he ate his tuna burger with one hand, while grabbing onto a video file with another.

"Well, yes," I commented with a surprised look.

"Although, I could say the same thing about you. I heard you were taken down and destroyed after you went berserk and injured one of your colleagues."

Darn! That Peter must have spread those lies to everyone after he shot me into that hole.

"Don't worry, my bet was on you and I knew you were alive somehow," he chuckled as he finished eating his food.

"Thanks, I feel really better now."

"Geez, I was just trying to be nice and lighten the tension. You don't have to be all serious, you know?"

"I am sorry, been a stressful day. So what is this room for?"

It was really eccentric seeing all of the equipment and gadgets. Some of it had not yet even been introduced into the world. I was drawn towards everything inside by a strange mixture of excitement and curiosity. Dr. Berge smiled faintly and glided away from me swiftly. He tugged his arms in the air and waved out.

"This is the future of warfare. Everything you see here was meant to change feud for good." Okay, he definitely caught my attention. Just what were they working on? I walked a few steps away and started looking around. I had never seen such well crafted equipment before. Dr. Berge vigilantly watched me, walking a good bit distance behind me. There was something important he wasn't telling me. I figured it was useless to try and pry it away from him. After all, this was supposed to be to secret research staff.

"So, how did you survive and escape that situation?"

He looked away, when I asked while lowering his arms down. There was sadness written on his face. I couldn't tell what was on his mind, but, I knew, it wasn't good news.

"It's rather complicated," he said and walked out of the lab.

Honestly, why was everyone keeping secrets from me? It was hard enough to get them to speak, and when they did speak, it only left me confused. I took a small step back and walked to an atom microscope at the far right. I had something I still needed to find out while I still had time. Warily, I took the sample of the terror beast's blood that I had taken earlier and placed it onto the machine. I peered slowly onto the lenses, curious to the bone.

This blood, it wasn't normal. I detected no clear color or structure in it which was odd, but to be expected. After all, these creatures were aliens. I ran some tests, analyzing the sample to find some unique traces; however, came out empty. Amazingly, the specimen blood was not only thick, it was lacking in essential components resembling vitamins and proteins. Even against super viruses and bacteria antigens, it still remained untainted. But what did this mean?

What did they eat? Why were they lacking in other pigmentation? Did they have any true weaknesses? My mind pondered at the new insightful knowledge, hoping to piece everything together. Nothing made sense at all.

I removed the blood carefully and placed it inside a vial to study later. My arms tingled, causing me to step away briefly. Something suddenly caught my attention and I looked straight ahead. There was a black armor suit hanging up in the left side of the lab.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" the alien man commented, standing next to me. "We finally finished the second prototype model of the End Boss system, based on the blue prints in the crystal core you had."

What! Just what else were they doing while I was sleeping? I felt a terrible chilling feeling running deep into my veins. The moment he said "End Boss" everything went dark. Was he joking? I turned my head towards him filled with anger. My fists clenched as my breathing got heavier.

"Are you serious? This thing was responsible for wiping out several countries and you had the nerve to rebuild it? I mean this is ridiculous! You can't expect me to put that on."

"Like you said, desperate times call for desperate measures," the old man chuckled and left the room. "Just get some rest and be ready to move out in a few hours. Time is critical now; everything you do impacts the future of earth."

Great pressure, his words echoed in my head for a long time. What was he expecting me to do? No matter what, I would not rely on the power of the End Boss. Such power was not something easily controlled, it was too dangerous. If memory served me right, I had been told that this armor had been used in the Planetary Wars. It had been responsible for wiping out armies in mere seconds. I sighed out loudly at the irony of using this armor to save lives, when it had taken out countless lives in the past.

"Just what is going on here?" I mumbled, placing my head between my hands, before drifting off into nothing. A few hours later, my alarm went off, waking me up.

Nothing had changed. Outside, it still looked the same in my eyes. I was surprised. I mean no strange crazy dreams with terror beasts or people I once knew. It was safe to say, I had a good four hours of sleep. I could only hope I would have more of these wonderful peaceful nights or days. I rolled over, slowly placing my feet onto the floor. My eyes were still teary as I yawned out loud.

Someone walked into the room, forcing me to look up quickly. I recognized her instantly even though it was dark in the room. She walked slowly towards me and turned on the lights.

"Come on, Den," Dalla screamed, waving her hand towards me. "We have to leave now, if we want to make good time."

It was strange to see Dalla act normal. Well, that was when her brother wasn't around. Leisurely, I stood up and stretched my neck and back. So the mission begins. Everything was falling into place. We were pawns playing for our lives in an unknown game. I really hated being in the dark when the situation was this dire. Dalla gazed at me for a second, with her arms folded, waiting impatiently. I could tell that she wanted me to hurry up, but she said nothing to impose her demand on me. I remembered something important and quickly rushed out of the room.

"You go on ahead, Dalla, there is one thing I still need to do."

I slithered through the halls, headed for the armory room. My suit was still missing some crucial elements in its flight system. Also, much was still needed to be discussed about this mission. It would not be rational to jolt into enemy territory without proper intel or a brilliant strategy. Hours earlier, Ali had told me to come back later and pick up new modifications for my suit. As soon as I entered the armor, I saw him working on a proton assault rifle; his back was tilted slightly, causing him to appear shaped crookedly in my eyes.

"Just on time," he commented, stopping what he was doing. He quickly walked right past me to the other side of the compartment. "I know how crucial time is, but I did everything I could to modify it with the short time that I have. I can't explain everything to you now; however, in time you will understand on your own. I have to warn you, stay away from trouble at all cost—if you can avoid it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In simpler terms, don't stir trouble with the locals, and whatever you do, stay far from the castle."

"Relax, I won't do anything reckless."

"I hope so, for your sake."

My mind wondered for a minute as to how this would play out. There was a lot more to this than he was letting me know. He glanced at me briefly, before going back to work. His body movements revealed no truth to me. I heard him unscrew a bolt from the rifle clip.

"So what's the plan?"

"I have already told you what you need to know so get going."

"No, you haven't; I mean, do you expect us to just waltz in or sneak in through some unknown entrance into this kingdom?"

"Don't worry about that, Dalla and Rick know the plan. I told them everything they need to know. So, please, enough with the questions."

"Well, then I have one more" I asked him, getting a little bit depressed. "What about my crew? You seriously can't expect"

"Relax, Den," he stopped me in my tracks. "I took that issue into consideration and made a few more gadgets to your armor, if situations beyond your control arise."

"Great, is it a new gun or some highly explosive javelin missile?" I asked, looking very excited to say the least.

The old man sighed very deeply and said, "If you let me finish explaining things to you, then you could be on your way sooner, don't you think?"

Right, I closed my mouth for a little while, although I wasn't sure how long I could keep quiet for.

"Take out your com link lenses," he spoke while opening a new box that contained new com lenses. "I created new lenses based on the design you have."

"Okay," I said, taking out the lenses from my eyes.

It was easy putting them on and rather difficult taking them out. I slowly reached my hands cautiously to my eyes and removed the lenses from my cornea. I wrestled to take the first one out, while holding back the urge to scream out in pain. I heard Ali weld the titanium alloy into my armory thigh plates, from the corner of my left ear. It was rather gruesome to take them out with him working on my upgrades. After a long hard minute, I got both of them out and placed them both in my right arm. My eyes hurt and were irritated; it felt like I was seeing the world for the first time. I couldn't believe how bad my eye sight had become without the com lenses. Everything was a giant foggy blur; I could barely see the room clearly.

"Here, take these," he said and handed me the new com link lenses. "I upgraded this pair with a 400 mile range communication radius, sonar vision system, and infrared system."

"Thanks, that should make things a little easier for me."

As I put them on and activated them, I felt a single tinge, then suddenly, my entire vision was different and clearer. Wow, these new lenses didn't itch or irritate my eyes at all. I squinted my eyes slowly, trying to test their level of firmness and time lag. I was rather impressed, they were far better than my old lenses.

"You can adjust and readjust your vision based on what you want to see," he finished and began helping me put on the rest of my armor.

It took thirty minutes to put on everything and head to the loading bay. There was a cargo hover ship waiting for us, completely loaded with gear and weapons. However, I wasn't sure why we were taking a cargo ship when a battle vehicle ship was faster. My eyes came across the two duo twins, who were busy loading food onto the vehicle. Dalla and her brother looked at me with a glance of irritation, while continuing with their work. I felt Ali approach me.

"Remember head east in that direction," the old man pointed towards the direction opposite to the sun. "If you keep going this way, you will find a kingdom, just get the supplies I listed and come back."

"Well, okay," I faintly smiled.

Dalla, Rick, and I all got into the vehicle and closed it completely. A pressurized whiz of oxygen was released into the whole ship the moment the hatch was sealed. Dalla slipped past us, strolling to the main cockpit. She glanced back and waved us forward. Rick and I followed her into the main compartment and buckled ourselves down.

"Are you ready, guys?" Dalla spoke, adjusting the control to her personal desire.

"Hey, why are you driving?" Rick screamed out of nowhere. He unbuckled and moved roughly towards Dalla. "I want to drive too."

"No, you can't," she replied and pushed him back a little. "I was here first, so go sit down and shut up."

Crap, this was going to be a long trip. I don't know how long I would be able to take all of this madness without breaking down. My fist clenched and teeth gritted, I had heard enough from these two idiots. I quickly unbuckled myself and moved swiftly behind both of them. Once within their blind spot, I stunned them both with my new shockers and heard two thumps as their bodies fell to the ground. I didn't want to do it, but time was crucial for me. Besides, I had to test out my new system shockers on someone, and they seemed to fit the requirements—since they were getting on my nerves.

"You'll be fine, give or take," I whispered and took over the steering system.

The cargo ship roared out loudly and began to lift up into the air. Silently, all the controls came online, within a few seconds, at blinking intervals. I steadfastly clutched onto the steering wheel, veering the ship out of the docking bay.

"Remember, Den, the best victory in life is one you win without using violence," Ali softly spoke through the com link.

"What do you mean?"

"In time, you will understand."

"If you were not going to tell me what you meant, then you should probably not have said anything to me to begin with."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting how clueless you are. Anyways, go towards the coordinates I gave you on your com map. Avoid conflict with the terror beasts at all cost. Good luck, Den."

"Thanks, Ali, but it seems I will need more than luck this time," I smirked to myself and cut the com link off.

I still had no clue what the real objective of this mission was. Only Dalla and Rick had been briefed; probably, shouldn't have stunned them out. I looked down at them and shook my head.

"Switch me into the main system," a familiar and yet annoying voice spoke.

I knew this voice all too know well. It was that stupid AI system Ali had installed for me. Times like these made me really miss my old AI system, since it never back talked me. However, this AI had saved me from dying horribly last time. Speaking of the past, I looked into my tracking system and noticed that the ship had stopped moving about 3 hours ago. Just what had occurred? I guess, I had done more damage to it than I anticipated.

I took my mind off the subject and glanced one last time at our main ship. This was probably going to be the last time I ever see it with my own eyes. My hands moved the steering wheel left, while I clamped both feet on the forward thrusters. I felt the ship start to accelerate, moving towards the west direction.

"Link me into the ship's grid system," my AI spoke through my com link, which I tried to ignore by turning it off, but that didn't work. The control limiters on the artificial intelligence were far much sophisticated than I projected. Eventually, I gave up and placed my AI into the ship system. There was a slight buzz in the ship and everything went silent.

"Leave the steering and the weapon system to me," it commented in a sincere way.

To my disbelief, I nodded and got up from my sit, frantically, leaving the cockpit. There was still much more I wanted to confirm about this ship. It was always good to know just what I was working with, in case I needed to improvise. Without warning, I found myself looking into a new compartment that was completely different from the rest of the ship. It was so white and utterly empty for such a large compartment. I walked right into it for a better observation. The floor was quiet, completely absorbing the noise my feet made. Just what was this room for? All of a sudden, I felt the room vibrate like the ship had bumped into something. The floor absorbed most of the vibration and noise, lessening the effects onto me. My arms caught a hold of the wall, allowing me to stay balanced. I quickly exited the room hastily, trying to make my way back to the cockpit.

"What's going on?" I questioned my AI.

"Nothing, we hit some turbulence, but everything is under control," it responded and fell into a nerve wrecking silence.

Before I could enter the cockpit, I paused briefly and thought for a second. Slightly tilted, I bent my back onto the wall and closed my eyes. My stomach felt tight and numb. I wasn't exactly starving, but it couldn't hurt to eat while I still had the chance. Besides, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to that annoying AI system. I turned around and went into the mess compartment. Once I got there, I opened the fridge and looked through the frozen food. Everything inside wasn't exactly appetizing, but I wasn't one to complain. After all, the arrival of the terror beasts made food far scarcer than it had been before. We were all struggling to stay alive, so whenever I found food, I was thankful. I quickly gobbled up some nutrient cubes while sitting down against the interior wall. The nutrient cubes left a nasty after taste in my mouth, which for a minute almost made me throw up. I got up slowly and left the compartment, once I was satisfied. Everything was quiet. All I could hear were the small buzz noise from the ship. I walked around and found another door, a few yards from the kitchen compartment. The door was a bit hard to open for some reason; it had no sensory scanners that would open whenever someone came near it. There was also no locks or password system latched onto it. Just how was I supposed to open this door? I tried to pry open the door, by pushing it with all my might, but it wouldn't budge.

"Grant me access to this door?" I yelled to my AI since it was now linked to every part of the ship.

"I can't," it replied quickly, "this part of the ship is completely sealed off from my control."

This only aroused my curiosity even further—I had to get this door open somehow. Just what was inside this room? Maybe Rick and Dalla knew. But I had knocked them out, so I couldn't ask for their help. I gave up after a while and slammed the door with my fists, before leaving to see what else was inside this ship. I was sure there still was something else left to see on this ship of interest. To my surprise, I wasn't wrong at all; there were still more compartments of interest worth exploring. Luckily, the remaining doors were not sealed shut like the previous door. I opened one of the doors easily and made my way inside. The floor was solid metal; it gave a loud frequency reaction against all my steps. This compartment was so dark inside, that I had to turn my night vision on, to get a glimpse of what was inside. I walked inside for a while, before I came across the switch. I turned it on and everything came to light. It was not what I was expecting nor disappointing. This was another armory room; however, smaller and compact. There were so many new gadgets and guns; I could barely keep my hands to myself. I quickly grabbed for the first weapon I could find, which was a neon sword, and begun to swing it around. The hilt was light and the blade whirled loudly. I placed the blade down and went around, observing the other gadgets.

I felt like I was celebrating my tenth birthday again, when I was opening every gift my relatives had given me. Oh how I missed those times a lot. What I wouldn't give to celebrate those times again. Out of the blue, something caught my attention. I turned my attention to this small well crafted box, sitting in the corner with a sign that said "DANGER." I thought about what it said for a moment and hesitated at first; however, I couldn't resist opening it to see what was inside. Strangely enough, I was expecting to find something very dangerous and toxic, but what I found just disappointed me. Inside, there were small yellow pellets, the size of peas; they didn't look that dangerous at all, considering the DANGER sign. They reminded me of tasty black peas, although they smelled like titanium. I wondered what they were for. My hands found themselves moving towards the pellets, being guided by my curiosity.

"Den, don't you even think about it," a voice growled at me so loud that it startled me. "Normally, I would let it slide, but you stunning me to the ground completely off guard is cold, dude."

I recognized his rough voice and knew who it was. From the tone of his voice, I would say he was angry. I turned my attention towards him slowly—my heartbeat beating at a rapid speed. I saw the look on his face and backed away completely. He looked so hostile, I doubt I could just easily apologize to him and leave.

"I never really liked you, Den, you seemed like a stuck up brat," he commented, clinching his fists and cracking his neck muscles. He moved towards me and stopped a few feet from me.

Did he really think he could take me on? He was unarmed and younger than me. To make things worse for him, his armor and weapon system were worlds apart from mine.

"I know what you are thinking, Den," Rick snickered in a faint smile, "I don't look that tough and I look unarmed. That being said, you are at a disadvantage."

What did he mean? Was he bluffing me into a corner? There was a rifle, on my left, fully loaded with proton bullets. Rick looked at the gun before turning his attention towards me. I saw the look in his eyes and realized I was in trouble. This man was itching for blood—my blood to be precise. Realizing this, I made a dash for the gun, but stopped halfway, when I heard the click of a gun. I was a few seconds too late. Rick was holding a four gauge revolver, an old relic from the ancient wars. Just what did he think he could do with that? He had four bullets in it, which wasn't enough to deal that much damage to my armor. I smirked as I straightened up. Rick fired without any warning, aiming for my left chest plate. I never saw the bullet, but I heard it hit my armor, abruptly.

"That didn't hurt," I commented, placing my hands on my chest plate in a defensive stance. "Okay, what I did was wrong and I am sorry. I just wanted to stop you two before you guys did something stupid."

"Oh really?" he growled impatiently, while firing two more rounds at me.

I shielded myself by placing my arms in front of me. I heard the bullets deflect from my armor. There was a tingling sensation that followed that I couldn't comprehend. My arms, something was wrong.

"Take a look at your hands, Den. I wasn't just firing randomly at you," Rick hissed at me.

What, just what was he saying? Slowing, I lifted my hands and felt a painful sensation; it felt like my arms had been crippled. My tendons and muscles felt locked. The more I tried to move, the more unbearable the pain became. What had Rick done to me? I looked up and saw him unload the empty shells out of his revolver. This was getting dangerous for me.

"I bet you can feel it now, can't you?" Rick said, loading more rounds into his revolver.

I was absolutely sure his bullets had not pierced me. There was more to his gun than what meet the eye. I thought it was strange for him to use an ancient gun against my type of armor. It seemed he had baited me into dropping my guard. I had been so overconfident; l let him lure me into his snare.

"What did you do to me?" I asked him furiously, struggling to regain control of my arms.

This was maddening to say the least—I was absolutely sure he hadn't injured me at all. The armor had absorbed the force behind his bullet. I coiled back, locking my right knee in front.

"My revolver is over a thousand years old," he spoke while pointing his gun at my head. "It has been passed from generation to generation, each making new modifications towards its firing power. Did you know."

"Shut up, already," I stopped him. "Just give me the shorter version of your story, the last thing I need is a history lecture from you."

Rick got even more furious as I could see more wrinkles on his face. Is this what people called a real bind? Crap, I felt my back hit against something solid, and a noise, as if an object fell to the ground afterwards. It was the box with the pellets.

"Wait, Rick," I warned him to stop attacking, but he wasn't listening.

Using him to test my stun system was the worst thing I could have done. Rick dashed towards me, with his gun in his right hand, without firing a single shot. My guess, he was trying to shoot me at point blank range, which was not such a bad plan for him, that is. I just backed up with all my might and rolled out of his grasp, barely avoiding a bullet from his revolver. He twisted his body, with such precise maneuvers, and fired another shot, aiming for my leg. By some luck, I was able to avoid it by twisting my ankle to its limit and executing a small jump. It was now clear to me at this point that Rick didn't want to kill me; however, cause me pain as a way to get back at me. I looked down, for some reason, and saw one of the pellets from the box on the ground.

"Oh crap, you idiot," Rick screamed and stopped attacking me.

He put his gun back onto its hidden strap and dashed towards the small pellet. Something was wrong. The tone on his voice gave me a sense of fear.

"Open the hatchet, now," he screamed at my AI while picking up the pellet that had fallen on the ground.

"What's going on?" I yelled at Rick, seeking to get some answers.

He was barely listening as he had made his way towards the hatch door. I followed slowly behind him, curious to see what he was about to do next. He was acting strange, the last minute he was furious and shooting at me—and now, he was running away, holding a small pellet in his hand. Rick climbed up the hull and opened the emergency exit door. He proceeded to throw the pellet as hard and as far as he could, before closing the hatchet quickly. As I watched him do all this, I heard a huge strange explosion that rocked the entire ship. It felt like there was an earthquake all around us. The com link system went static and the ship began to spin out of control.

"Get down, you idiot," Rick screamed at me from the floor. "All this is your doing, Den, remind me to shoot you when this is over."

"Oh really," I blasted him in my loudest voice, while falling on the ground. "All this happened because you shot my arms with your stupid looking piece of a trash gun."

"Do you want to go again, Den, because I am ready to go?" Rick snarled while holding onto a part of the ship.

Just what was he going to do in such a predicament as this? He couldn't even shoot me straight, considering how much spinning the ship was doing. The shaking stopped and the ship started to stabilize itself. Did that fallen pellet cause all of this? No, it couldn't have done all that, could it? I mean, it was so small and looked harmless enough, but then again, I could be wrong.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said something about this piece of trash gun," Rick hissed, pointing his gun at me so quickly that I didn't know what to do.

"Knock it off, Rick," Dalla said as she entered the room. She looked at me irritated and punched the wall closest to her—probably, not too happy with me for stunning her, too. "As much as I would like to help you beat up Den, we have far much more troubling problems to deal with. That strange explosion knocked out our sensors and engines. We are practically sitting ducks out here in terror beasts' territory."

Okay, that definitely didn't sound good at all from any perspective. I mean, what else could go wrong? Dalla took a few more steps towards us and picked up a few guns and a proton dagger, before heading out. She barely said anything to us as she left to go outside.

"Your sister looks pissed," I snickered in a remark, trying to start up a conversation.

"Well, if you think she's angry now, wait till she finds out that it was us that caused the explosion," he mumbled as he placed his gun back inside.

As I thought about his words, a cold chill crawled up my spine, making me shiver. If Rick was like this when he got mad, I would hate to see what Dalla would do to me.

"It's best not to think about it, trust me," Rick whispered to me. "Whatever you do, act surprised and don't say anything."

Easy enough, even I could do that; although, I was very bad at keeping secrets especially as big as this one. At some point, Dalla would figure it out. I just hope I won't anywhere near her at that particular moment.

"We'll postpone our fight for now, so take this and you will be fine," Rick said and injected me with a serum of some sort.

For some reason, I started to feel something in my arms which was good. The pain was still there, but at least movement in my arms was coming back slowly.

"Just what is in those bullets?"

I still couldn't explain what had happened to me at all; those bullets shouldn't have been able to piece my armor and even harm me, for that matter.

"It's simple, really," Rick replied, speaking in his confident voice. "Every bullet in this gun contains a dosage of neurotoxin venom that could take down even a wild tiger, given half an second or so. I didn't need to piece hard through your armor for the poison to enter your body. There is tiny thread like needles in each bullet. You can't see them, but they are powerful enough to pierce armor and enter your flesh. Den, you are lucky, had I shot you one more time, you'd be a goner."

"In other words, you poisoned me," I panted, stretching my stiff arms.

"Well, when you put it like that, then yes," Rick walked away, following his sister.

Great, just perfect! Getting poisoned by neuron toxins was the last thing I wanted inside my body, since I was still in the midst of recovering from neon alpha poisoning, which in itself was fatally dangerous. My only hope was that my immune system was strong enough to hold off the toxin and the neon alpha poison, at the same time.

"Let's go," Rick said, coming back again to grab a few flash canisters and stacking them in his armor compartments. "The feeling in your arms should have come back by now."

He was right, my arms had returned to somewhat normal. There was still pain; however, it was mostly numbness. As gentle as possible, I grabbed some weapons and headed towards the cockpit of the ship, to get my helmet. This current ordeal had cost us a few hours of travel, further delaying our mission. A lot of things were about to make a turn for the worse. That last explosion was strong enough to be detected from a 100 mile radius, which was the last thing we wanted. As soon as I had all my gear and armor on, I advanced outside to check out the scenario. It was a total wasteland, like a nuclear bomb had exploded somewhere close. The trees and grass were all gone, leaving nothing other than a pile of debris on the ground. My horizon was completely limited, the amount of radioactivity on my scanners were reading off the charts. I couldn't believe that we had caused this much damage in just a few minutes. The old man had more than likely seen this, and I would imagine, he was very angry with us. I walked around the debris firmly holding onto my newly acquired proton assault rifle. Despite knowing how useless it was against a terror beast, holding it in my arms made me feel at ease.

"Darn, look at this, Rick," Dalla commented, checking the engine. "The engines were overheated, too many pipe faucets burst. We won't be able to go anywhere for a while."

Rick strapped his gun in and walked towards his sister quickly, "Can you fix this?"

Dalla posed for a while, observing the simmering heat gushing out of the turbine shafts, "Yeah, maybe; nevertheless, it may take a while to seal the pipes and reboot the system. Just what happened here, Rick?"

Rick laughed out loudly, scratching his helmet like he had lice, "no idea, sis, I wish I knew too, but I have no clue."

"Good one, Rick," I whispered and gave him a quick thumps up.

Fortunately, I was able to lower my hand down before Dalla looked towards me. She glanced at me and turned around shaking her head, "I know you two are hiding something."

"Nothing at all, sis, now let's link our com link and set up parameter, Den," Rick said as he moved away from his sister, while typing in something into his exoskeleton suit.

He released two drones from his armor and took out two revolvers. At first, I thought he only had one gun. However, I was wrong. Meaning, there were more things he was hiding and probably would not tell me. I looked at his other gun curiously. Did it fire paralyzing toxins, too? Oh well, I would find out soon when he used it. I dragged my feet through the rubble, dodging tree debris. Rick signaled me to follow him. I paced myself rapidly behind him, to the other side of the ship, to set up grid line sensors while Dalla stayed behind and fixed the engine. Rick took out some gear from his satchel and dug through the ground. He placed small C19 mines with proximity sensors and moved away slowly.

"Go cover, Dalla," Rick jogged towards the ship's panel ladders, aiming to go up.

"Yeah, sure," I nodded and turned around.

I tramped around the ship and halted a few feet from her. I stood in front of her, with my gun in my hands, proceeding to kneel down on my left knee. I unrestricted the safety lock, while extending my gun in front of me. My breathing lowered as I anticipated the worst possible scenario playing out. The blue grass a mile in front of us looked really suspicious, like there was something inside of it. We were being surrounded by an unknown enemy. By my guess, I think it was a terror beast. The movements were too swift and fast to be anything else. Promptly, I released my scan drones from my armor and sent them towards the impending hot zone. From this height, I couldn't see anything; I needed to find high ground and make my stand there. I looked around for a close place offering my needs—and found a small compartment, on top of the ship, with a great view of my surrounding.

"I'm going up there," I informed Dalla as I began to climb the hull.

As soon as I got to the top, I placed my equipment down and lay on the ground, inaudibly. The reading I was getting from my drones was off the charts, compared to what I was expecting. Not only was there something in those grassy terrains, but actually, it was just more than a few dozen. Oh no, this was more trouble than we could handle. I watched Dalla work on the engines, while curling down, waiting until I was sure. Honestly, I hoped my scanners were deceiving me; however, I was wrong.

"We got serious trouble," I said, pointing my rifle towards the grassy plain—fully alert.

We couldn't possibly take on terror beasts, not with this kind of ammunition.

"Over there too?" Rick growled, sounding really frustrated with my words. "Dalla, you might want to hurry up with that engine problem, because we are not going to last more than ten minutes, at this rate."

"Just hold them off as long as possible," she responded in a shaky voice. "It takes time to reset the flux capacitor on this type of engine."

Judging by their conversation, I could tell that we were in a life or death situation. I felt my stomach swirl with anxiety and my finger pressing hard on the trigger.

"Wait, Den," Rick yelled to me from the com link line. "Conserve your ammunition and go into the ship. Switch with your AI and man the weapon system; I will cover you and Dalla."

That could work. The ship's weapon system offered four times the firing power, which was what we needed. I got up and picked up all my equipment quickly, before heading inside. Without hesitating, I rushed towards the ship's cockpit and typed in a few instructions into the main system.

"What are you doing?" my AI asked me with a cold tone. "I told you already that you should leave all the ship's main controls to me."

"Desperate times," I said and returned to my task.

I rerouted my AI as fast as I could and linked it off the weapon system as I took over. The ship's defensive grid came online as the shields activated, maximizing the railing spring coils to full power. I felt the ship vibrate as I redirected the position of the ship's orbital guns to the right and vertically down, towards the hot zone.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Rick spoke, linking the video surveillance from his com link with ours. "These terror beasts are much smaller than the ones we have seen on earth. I think these are infant terror beasts, if that is even possibly."

He might be right. I zoomed in on them and faintly saw smaller figures leaping through the pasture. With the sun shining this bright, it was hard to tell to pinpoint exactly what they were and even hit them. Their numbers kept increasing with every passing minute, as the sensory scanners displayed more dots all around the ship. Suddenly, I heard the sound of the gun fire. Rick had fired his gun first. I noticed the small dots on my scanner start to move even faster towards us than before—this was it. I latched hard onto the triggers, firing the orbital guns all around, in a 180 degree motion, hoping to hit something. The dots on the scanners didn't dwindle at all, but they were slowing down and backing out a little. Even with this amount of firing power, the odds were still bad. I growled out loud in frustration while still firing at the creatures. Was there something we could do to shift the odds in our favor?

Wait, the pellets, we still had those. If one of those could cause that much destruction, I would imagine more of them could destroy anything. No, Dalla would figure out that it was us who caused that strange explosion, and I would hate to know what she would do to us. So the pellets were definitely out of the question.

"Dalla, please hurry up," Rick screamed out as he kept firing. "I'm running out of ammunition, I can't keep this up forever, you know?"

"I'm trying," Dalla replied quickly, at the top of her voice. "Maybe you should try resetting a flux capacitor while someone is yelling at you, and you will see how hard it is."

"Well, if someone like you can do it, I think a monkey could, too," Rick responded, sounding really ticked.

"Oh really, Rick, why don't you come down here and say it to my face," Dalla growled back.

This wasn't what I hoped was going to happen and this was certainly not the best time for a sibling fight. The creatures were drawing closer and maneuvering so fast I couldn't track them, let alone shoot them. To make things even more stressing, the shells were almost gone. I had fired more than half, barely hitting any of the small creatures.

"Maybe, I will and then I can shove one of the little guys down your throat."

"I would like to see you try."

Quickly, I shut down my com link line and began to concentrate my fire. I switched the output of the gun to rapid fire in short dispersal, like a shotgun, and began firing at the slow pace. I felt annoyed; nothing we did could stop them from advancing.

"All done," Dalla commented, somehow using the com link line which I thought had been disconnected. "Help, I can't move—I'm surrounded."

Just great, she gave us good and bad news at the same time. I wanted to rush out and help her, but I couldn't. The orbital guns were the only things keeping the creatures at bay. If I left this station, then no one was going to man the weapon system. The shields were barely holding off the small creatures that had gone through the outer defenses. I observed them attempt to get inside the ship. It was only a matter of minutes, maybe seconds.

"Switch me in," my AI spoke in a cold tone. "Look, you are the only one who still has enough ammunition to go help Dalla and I can cover you, if you switch me into the weapons grid."

I hated talking to my AI like it was just another person; although, it was right. I pondered for a while, thinking of the most logical situation to go about this matter. Dalla was surrounded and I was the only one who could help her. I took the best option and gave my AI full access of the whole ship. I realized, I would regret it later, but now was not the time. I got off the chair and took my equipment, sprinting out to Dalla. Moving quickly, I jolted so fast, out of the ship, that I found myself looking at a warzone without realizing it. There were tiny creatures, hitting on the shields, violently plotting to get in.

"Whatever you do, don't let the shields down," I ordered my AI in a rough tone, while looking at my guns one last time.

I felt scared, nevertheless courageous. A life hung in the balance and my actions, at that moment, would impact the future drastically. I moved away from the hatch, sealing it shut behind me. Suddenly, I noticed that one of the shields had fallen and a few of those creatures had penetrated the shields near Dalla. More were still trying to breach inside, as they outnumbered us heavily.

"I'm coming, Dalla, hang tight," I said through the com link and turned on the electric stunner system to maximum power.

I felt a jolt of power, followed by a timed power usage clock on my visor. I had about 3 minutes to use it at full power. Feeling somewhat confident, I dashed towards her without fear, firing carelessly into the horde of creatures. I had never fully tested the modifications on a large crowd—but I trusted Ali and Dr. Berge. One of the small terror beasts jumped at me with its jaws open. It was so small, I could swash it with my feet, and yet so powerful, it could easily knock me down. With my body in motion, I twisted down, contemplating the speed of my momentum while shooting it with my gun. A few shots were barely able to penetrate its small skin, which was rather impressive considering how tiny they were. A few other small terror beasts jumped onto me, scratching my armor with their claws. I felt them one second and then swoosh. They looked stunned or dead for some reason. My mouth opened, in a stutter, but no words came out. Could it be? A rather disappointing find, but nonetheless important. It seemed the smaller versions of the terror beasts were intolerable to electricity. I bent down for a second, despite the dire situation, just to be sure. Yep, they looked pretty lifeless to me. Had I found the terror beasts' one and only weakness? It was possible, although it was still just a speculation. Dalla grunted out loud, fighting off the large numbers of creatures all over her. It distracted me from my discovery, causing me to get up after her. I turned my gaze up in front, while dashing fast through the swarm. I saw Dalla hold them off with her gun; however, she was almost out of ammunition. A chunk of her armor had been torn off, and I could see part of her right hand showing from it. Sensing the situation, I began to fire a few rounds at the terror beasts munching at her oxygen tank. The small creatures fell, but they weren't harmed at all by my bullets. I got close to Dalla and side winded my body opposite to her—placing my back against hers, as we fought off the creatures, back to back.

"Boy am I glad to see you," she commented from the com link. "For a moment, I really thought I was goner. One of my oxygen tanks was damaged, and I only have enough oxygen for a few more minutes."

"I have an idea," I whispered to her with a nudge, giving her my extra clip of proton bullets. "Cover me for a few minutes, I need to do something fast."

"Okay," she said, reloading the magazine into her gun. "I don't know what you are about to do, but this better be worth it."

"Trust me, I think it will work."

I fired a few more rounds at the small terror beasts, close to me, before ducking down to unveil my plan. Dalla fired her gun back and forth quickly, buying me a few seconds, which was more than enough. Quickly, I shut down my armor defense grids and rerouted all the power I had to my EMP system circuits. There was a slight interval delay followed by tiny clicks. I heard my backup power come online as the main power had been redirected to my electric weapon system. The suit jolted and vibrated in response to the power surging through it. I had a ten seconds to power up, which I needed for it to disperse out of me. Any longer than that and I would risk blowing up everything, including myself and Dalla.

"Get down, Dalla," I yelled, quickly pushing her hard towards the ground.

In that moment, I released an electric pulse wave through my shoulder pores, in a 360 degree axis. I felt the massive power leave my suit with such a powerful force that it was almost hard to move. In the next couple of seconds, I saw nothing but blinding light—everything seemed like one giant haze. But was it over?

I heard the ship's main shields suddenly turn off as the engines roared. Once the blinding light had faded, I opened my eyes slowly, glancing back at the ship, and then back at the small creatures coming towards us. Something was wrong and I had a feeling it was my AI. Just what was that stupid machine up to this time? This wasn't part of the program I had told it to do. I helped Dalla back to her feet, both of us backing away with our guns blazing bullets. The ship was almost two meters above the ground and rising. A mixture of frustration and fear reached me, causing me to panic.

"What's going on, Den?" Rick asked me from the other end, somewhere above the ship.

"I don't know," I replied, just as stunned as he was. "Dalla, duck now, I am going to fire another pulse wave!"

She heeded my warning, with a nod, and quickly stooped down on her left knee, and she covered her face with both hands briefly. The moment I realized she was out of the way, I fired my electric pulse burst, for the second time, on a grander scale, hoping to destroy the creatures within a 30 meter radius around us. My scanners shrieked out loud, alerting me that I had drained more than half the power of my battery pack. I closed my eyes the second time again from the blinding furious light, while keeping alert for the ship. I felt Dalla's figure brush past me—she was moving towards the ship, hastily.

"So I was right," after it was clear again, I saw a pile of stunned lifeless creatures on the ground. Their bodies simmering with smoke and nail almost turned to ash. I stepped on one of them, just to make sure it wasn't fooling me. There was no motion; I detected no signs of life from it at all. "I didn't know you could do that," Dalla said in amazement.

"Save the admiration for later," I replied back, looking at the cargo ship ascending slowly above us: "We are not out of the woods yet."

Another horde of the small creatures appeared out of the forest, swarming towards us; numbering in the hundreds, at least by my speculation. They glided through the ground, effortlessly, approaching us with precise speed. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, we suddenly heard a menacing loud roar. It was a much larger terror beast, judging by the sound. My back withered out, causing me to spiral down. I had used too much energy without realizing it. Everything seemed to go awry for me at that time. I struggled up to my feet, while holding onto my gun tightly. I needed to keep it together, but that alone was hard to do. Looking around, it was then I truly realized what this territory was. Apparently, this was the terror beasts' nesting area and we had invaded it. That explained why they kept attacking us relentlessly, attempting to force us out. Freaky vibrations rattled from the ground, getting stronger with each second. The terrain was becoming more dangerous for us, meaning it was time to leave. It was only a matter of time before we were surrounded and possibly killed.

"Can you fly?" I asked Dalla quickly without hesitation. "My suit doesn't have enough juice anymore to fly up."

She paused, for a second, checking her suit's system and then replied, "I have enough power to fly for a short distance."

Good, all we needed was just enough lift to get us close to the ship's hull. The ship was about 15 meters up above us, lifting up even further. Rick was aboard it; however, not inside to stop the ship from going any further.

"Take my hand," I extended my left arm towards her. "Try to fly towards the ship and I will cover you."

She nodded through her helmet and grabbed my hand, preparing her system for lift off. With my other free hand, I fended off the small terror beasts, using my assault rifle. My gaze turned east and caught sight of at least four gigantic terror beasts. I felt nothing radiating from their eyes. The creatures stood firmly on top of a hill, looking down, directly towards us. One of them galloped towards us, with its jaws wide open. In a slight second, Dalla yanked me as she lifted up into the air. By the time one of the large terror beasts was within range, we were more than five meters in the air. It jumped up for a few seconds, but only caught wind. I gazed down and felt its eyes upon us with sheer anger. Dalla was slowing down, for some reason; she was losing leverage as we were descending little by little. Luckily, we were close to the ship, allowing us to latch onto the outer hull, just before her flight system gave out.

From this distance, the ground was starting to look like a dotted blur. It was filled with a massive number of small and large terror beasts. I was for sure terror beasts budded off each other, but now, I wasn't. These recent new developments led me to believe they could also produce off springs, too. Dalla moved past me, climbing up the hull of the ship. She was heading up towards the latch door. Instinctively, I joined her, moving calmly as not to fall. The cargo ship whistled, moving west, towards our current objective. I saw the terror beasts follow us from the ground; however, unable to keep up with the speed of the ship.

"We dodged a bullet, didn't we?" Dalla laughed as she opened the emergency hatch to get in.

"I didn't think so," I answered, following behind. "It's way too soon to relax just yet."

These creatures weren't just going to give up and let us leave. If I was right, they were going to follow us anywhere on this planet to exact revenge. I mean, the look on their face said it all—perhaps there was more to these creatures than we already knew. In fact, nothing on this planet was what it seemed.

I entered the ship, last, and closed the emergency hatchet behind me. Dalla grazed away from me into another compartment, without saying a word. I left her, charting my way into the cockpit of the ship, very angry. That AI had tried to leave us behind, and I wasn't going to let it slide, not even one bit.

"I'm glad to see you guys," Rick surprised me, coming from another exit. He had taken off his head gear, looking completely wasted. He leaned against the wall, dropping his gun in a huge sigh, with his head tilted up.

I ignored him for a bit as I went straight to the monitor, "why did you disobey my direct order? I specifically told you not to lower the shields at any costs."

"I followed the logical choice, based on my design and decided that moving the ship was in everyone's best interest."

No, that wasn't logic at all; something was up and I wanted to know what. Because robots lacked emotions, it was the reason why we had stopped using them to fight the terror beasts. Plus, they were also expensive to manufacture and maintain. To make it worse, they left an even greater amount of destruction than the terror beasts.

"Cheer up, Den," Dalla said, taking off her helmet and wiping off sweat from her forehead. Her tender slim cheeks resonated with glow of slight glitter. "It all worked out in the end, didn't it?"

Maybe! But I just couldn't let such actions slide by me again—so I did the unthinkable and disconnected my AI from the ship's main grid, leaving the ship's default system in control. I just couldn't risk something like that happening again to us. I bent my back down and placed the AI module into my thick plate pocket.

"Remind me never to go on your bad side," Dalla snickered in a smart comment. She gently tilted away from us and left the compartment, elegantly.

"How far do you think we traveled, so far?" Rick asked me, looking at the screen map.

"Probably less than 80 miles, at best; thanks to our incident we are definitely behind schedule," I replied and took off my helmet.

I scratched my head for a bit, before sitting down, my eyes looking at the operations monitors frequently. On this planet, we couldn't afford to relax or act reckless. It was a hostile alien planet and we barely knew what was going on. But, perhaps, Rick knew something.

"What did Ali tell you about this assignment?"I turned my head towards him.

"Who is Ali?" he asked, looking confused.

Right, he didn't know about that. I was the only person who called him Ali. It was likely that he was using another persona name on the ship. Only I knew he was an alien and was probably best to keep it that way.

"I mean, the man who saw us off," I responded, tilting back towards the monitor. "I forgot his name."

"Oh, you mean Dr. Sagets?" Rick suddenly laughed, sitting down on the other operational seat next to me. "Well, nothing really, he told us to operate in stealth and try to get the job done without being seen. It was odd though, I got the feeling he was hiding something important about the mission. I really don't trust him."

"I see," I sighed out loudly, placing my head between my hands. My only clue to the truth had turned out to be a dead-end. Just what was he hiding?

"Wait, Den, I just figured out something?" Rick said, shacking like he was scared. "If we only traveled for 80 miles at best and found this many terror beasts, then that must mean the others at the main ship are at risk as well. They can't fight off a horde of those small and large creatures."

I felt my fists clench tightly. He was absolutely right, although I didn't want to admit it. It was absolutely possible that the creatures were already headed that way as we speak.

"What do you think we should do?" he asked me, while trying to sound tough.

I could feel the fear in his voice so clearly, but what could I possibly say to him that could comfort him? It seemed every possible answer I could possibly think of only boiled down to the worst case scenarios.

"We continue as planned," I said slowly and closed my eyes, drifting off. "We will just have to believe Ali and the others will manage."

6

"Wake up, Den," someone shook me so hard it startled me.

"We got trouble."

Just when I was starting to have good night's rest, with no strange dreams, something had to get in my way. I yawned and opened my eyes slowly—only to see Dalla, and she was standing in front of me, with a gun in one hand and a dagger in the other. What was it now? I just wished for one day of peace and quiet, but apparently, even that was hard to come by. I got up slowly while yawning out even louder. There was a faint, lingering aftertaste in my mouth that didn't seem to go away.

"One of those little terror beasts is on board the ship," she whispered to me and handed me a proton burst handgun. "I don't know where Rick is, he is not answering his com link."

"Really," I said, sounding surprised

This was indeed a sticky situation; those little buggers were trouble enough, but finding one in this ship was going to be more difficult than I thought. There were vents and tight corners for the creature to hide anywhere aboard the ship. Suddenly, the lights in the ship went off which freaked me out. Without hesitation, I put on my helmet and switched to night vision mode. The generator inside the ship came online as the ship stopped and just hovered in the air.

"What do you think caused that?" I whispered to Dalla quietly, looking around.

"Okay, that's a stupid question," she whispered back to me moving towards the door breathing slowly. "I already told you, a terror beast got inside our ship."

We had a loud thump on the cockpit hatch door and we moved slightly back, with our guns up. Something was pressing smoothly against the door. Dalla paced towards the door and hit the automatic control switch on it. I heard the door start to open as my heart beat fast and adrenaline rushed through my body. It opened all the way, but there was nothing there; it was too dark to see. Out of the blue, I spotted something fast and small whish towards Dalla in barely a second.

"Get it off me," she yelled, her hands struggling to pull away the little bugger off her.

I moved away from her and aimed at the little creature on her head. With the way she was moving back and forth, I couldn't shoot without risking her life in the process. I ran towards her, instead, and began punching the little sucker as hard as I could with my left hand. All those boxing lessons I took for a week were paying off; although, I wasn't sure if any of my punches were having any effect. Finally, the little guy let go off her helmet and jumped onto the controls. "I'm gonna blast you up," Dalla screamed, raising her gun directly at it.

"Wait, Dalla, don't shoot."

Quickly, I stopped her by pushing her gun away, before she could fire it at the small terror beasts. One shot of her proton blaster and the controls would be destroyed, which wasn't exactly what we wanted.

"I see you guys have met my new pet," Rick said, walking towards the small terror beast. Surprisingly, it dashed towards him and landed on his head without killing him. Dalla and I looked at each other, confused to say the least. This wasn't happening now, was it? I strolled towards him, just to make sure I wasn't imagining things. It seems my eyes were not deceiving me, which I found rather disappointing. Apparently, I wasn't seeing things at all.

"You can't be serious are you, Rick?" Dalla hissed, literally taking the words out of my mouth. "That's a freaking terror beast on your head and we need to destroy it."

"Yeah, Rick," I added, raising my stun blades up into the air. "Hold still for a little while and I will have that little sucker down soon."

"No," Rick screamed and moved out of the way so fast I could barely see him. "Huggers is not like the others, he is different and gentle. We can't just kill him because he is an offspring of our enemy."

"You named it Huggies? And how do you know it's even a male? For all we know, it could be a female," Dalla commented, sighing deeply.

"No, his name is Huggers and he is a male, end of story," Rick screamed, holding the little terror beasts like it was a pet.

"That's not the point here," I intervened, getting between them, looking directly at the terror beast. "That thing in your hands is trouble and it needs to be destroyed now. If you want a pet, I promise to get you one as soon as we get back to earth. Now let me kill it."

"Try it if you can," Rick growled, pointing his other revolver on my forehead directly, with an insane look on his face.

Darn, I backed off slowly and peacefully. I couldn't afford another hit from his weird guns. For all I knew, his other gun was even more deadly than the first one. "Suit yourself, but if that thing poses a threat to any of us, I'm going to shoot it without hesitation."

Rick put his gun back into his armor and commented, "if that should happen, I will personally do it."

Sure, that would save me a lot of trouble, but could he really do it? He looked like the type to emotionally cling onto people and objects, like his life depended on it.

"You have to forgive my brother," Dalla whispered to me as soon as Rick left. "Our parents never allowed us to ever have pets or anything, just leave him like this for a while and I'm sure he will come to his senses soon."

Maybe, if I knew one thing about attachment, it was that those who got too attached never let go of what is that they were fond of. I was an example of that because I kept chasing over a girl who left me four years ago to no end. I got too attached and part of me yearned to chase after her to the end of the world, literally speaking of course.

"What do you think happened to the ship's alternate power?" Dalla asked, checking the controls.

Her words snapped me back to reality, instantly. It was indeed unusual for the lights to go out for this long.

"Probably, that little bug did this," I whispered to her while signaling her to follow behind me as my back up to the control module compartment.

The whole ship seemed to be out of power, which was rather stranger, considering the fact that a nuclear fission battery powered the ship and those things could last for centuries.

"Look at this," Dalla whispered and stopped completely. She bent down and showed me a circuit that had been fried. "I think we sustained a lot of damage from that blast earlier."

"Perhaps, you are right," I replied, shifting my weight back to my front foot.

I began to move again and Dalla followed behind me, with both our guns raised as we paced to the ship's power room. One of the lights kept flickering on and off as if the ship was drastically losing more power.

"Maybe it's time you put back your AI into the ship," Dalla whispered so softly I barely heard it.

No, who knows what would happen if I did that? For all I know, it could destroy the ship. We got to the power room and noticed smoke coming outside. The whole compartment was dark as charcoal.

"This isn't good," I commented, running into the compartment, worried. "Why didn't we notice this earlier? What should we do?"

I turned towards Dalla, who seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge on this type of stuff.

She looked at the circuits for a while, resting her chin on the palm of her left hand—her right arm tinkering with the wiring systems. I walked past her and observed the nuclear battery cables alongside the wall. One looked damaged but the rest seemed okay.

"I can't fix this, not without risking the lives of everyone on board," she said, typing some instructions into one of the circuit boards that was still intact. "The best I can do for now is shut down the power, and we can use the generators to land down somewhere for the day."

What? That plan seemed dangerous. Wasn't there any other way to fix it without landing on the ground? For all we know, there were even more terror beast on the ground lying and waiting for us.

"We can use the camouflage system on board to hide ourselves, so freeze out," she smirked and left the compartment.

I watched her leave and nodded silently. Her plan could work; although, I doubted for a while if the ship had a stealth mode system applied into its mainframe. With one glimpse around the room, I exited the compartment and went back to the ship's main room. Dalla was there already, typing in some encrypted commands into the main system. The process of shutting down the ship's power system seemed rather aggravating, by the looks of it. I didn't dare bother her while she was working. Instead, I leaned next to her and watched her silently. I popped my fingers, annoyingly, thinking how far off schedule we were. Nothing seemed to be going as planned.

"Find a location free of tree and debris, we are going to crash this baby down," Dalla chuckled, buckling into one of the seats close to her. "I have shut down all of the ship's main power and the generator will only last thirty seconds, so use the power wisely."

What, was she kidding me right now? No one could pull off that miracle. I could barely even steer a ship that great. I looked at her, startled and confused, my heart beating very fast.

"Why me, Dalla? Why can't you do it yourself?"

"Because my brother and I don't have our licenses to operate ships yet, we are still minors."

"Really, could have fooled me."

I felt the ship suddenly start to lose altitude as it took a massive nose dive. My back tightened as I was pushed against the seat and dashboard. I quickly struggled up and held tightly onto the seat as hard as I could. "Oh great! Now what else could go wrong?"

Dalla and Rick were turning out to be a bigger eyesore than I anticipated. It seems that they were permitted to keep guns, but were not allowed to drive? This was some messed dilemma they had me under. I gazed fiercely through the front window and saw the ground getting closer. It was going to take some miracle to get us out of this situation. As fast as I could, I dragged myself in and clamped the seat belts on. There wasn't much time, meaning every second counted.

I took over of the ship's control dashboard and recalibrated them to my own personal standard settings. With both hands, I grabbed tightly onto the steering wheel and pulled it back hard, trying to level the ship. As expected, it was no easy task. It felt like I was trying to pull out a ton of armors. The backup generators gave a silent jolt and died out completely.

"This is it," Dalla screamed, holding tightly onto her seat.

"Brace yourself," I replied, turning the wheel a hard left.

The ship screeched, making a breech, slow plunge, but it was already too late. We struck the ground so fast, we barely knew it happened. There was a loud clutter of metal ripping for a really long minute, and then utter silence. I felt my head hit against the dashboard, it was painful. Fortunately, the rumbling vibration stopped, making the worst possible scenario more bearable. I pulled myself from the uncomfortable position and sat up straight, with my hands on my face.

"Is everyone okay?" a voice spoke, accompanied by some static noise.

It was Rick; he didn't sound too good, judging from the tone of his voice. Bit by bit, I took off my helmet and inhaled large amounts of air. Dalla wasn't moving, but I could see she was faintly breathing. She had a pulse and her vital organs seemed to be working normally. I stood up and observed the status of the ship. It seemed over, but we couldn't take any chances yet.

"What happened, Den? I was sleeping, and then suddenly, I heard a loud thump and I was on the ground," Rick said coming into the control room. "Is Dalla alright?"

Rick was limping and holding onto his right arm. I turned my head up and noticed something above his head. So the little bugger was still alive, even after all that?

"Yeah, your sister is alright, just not conscious," I replied and signaled him to help me carry her to the other room.

Together, we carried Dalla into a vacant compartment; however, it was a much more difficult task, considering how heavy she was in her armor.

"I think my sister put on a lot of weight," Rick laughed, trying to be funny.

"No, don't say that," I whispered, signaling to get him to shut up.

Who knows what would happen if she heard him say that. I definitely didn't want to find out for myself. As slow and carefully as possible, we carried her to a bunk and laid her there, being silent as not to awaken her.

"What should we do now?" Rick asked, slowly sitting on the bed, next to his sister, filled with frustration.

The little terror beast came and sat on his lap like a small puppy. Honestly, the thought of shooting the little bugger with a horde of bullets did occur to me—it was almost too hard to resist.

"Well, can you fix a nuclear fusion engine?" I asked, tugging my shoulders down. I could feel this cramp slowly crippling down my spine.

"Nah! Probably not," Rick chuckled, scratching his head gently, with his eyes closed. "I never had any interest in engines unlike my sister. Times like this, I wish she was awake."

"You can say that again," I agreed with him. "The best we can do now is salvage every important piece we can find and guard the ship until Dalla wakes up."

Rick nodded and we both geared up our weapons and equipment, ready to go out. I looked one time at Dalla and smiled faintly. As long as she was alive, we would make it out of this mess somehow.

"Let's leave her here."

Before leaving the ship, we made some minor modifications and turned the ship to camouflage mode, in order to hide it from intruders. Although, the mess around the crash debris around us made it pretty hard to truly hide in plain sight. Rick and I made our way, stealthy, around the pile of burnt grass and trees, picking up what salvage parts we could take. The wind blowing gently against us was strictly riveting, as it kept getting in our way.

"Go this way and I will circle around," I spoke with slight signals and quickly left.

There was a slight lingering sensation of tension rising in the air; I had experienced this type of nervousness at least four times in my life. I looked back and forth, while making my way down the side of the ship. Sadly to say, I didn't find anything useful except debris and ashes from the crash. The wind blew up again, and this time, stronger than before; it was enough to make me shield my head for a few seconds. It stopped completely without warning, leaving me in a state of shock. What was up with this planet and freaky weathers? All of a sudden, I heard a rustle in the trees and I quickly raised my gun up, checking in all directions.

"I think, I hear something, Rick. I'm heading towards it now and don't turn off your com link."

There it was again—the rustle in the wind only got stronger as if something big was running fast through the grass. I looked everywhere as my heart pounded even faster, adrenaline rushing throughout my entire body.

"Rick, I think we got trouble," I whispered through the com link, as I backed up slowly.

Whatever was around me, was definitely fast and very big judging by the noise, but there was no way we could have been followed, was there?

"Hang tight, Den, I will be there soon," he said and the com link went static.

"Consider it done," I laughed nervously.

"Don't move," a voice I had never heard before spoke to me, something pointed at my back.

Crap, I had been careless and now my enemy had got the best of me. Someone small was behind me—I could tell because of the shadow looming through me. I would guess a child. I tilted my back and lowered my stance ready to counterattack at the perfect chance.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I dropped my guns and raised my hands in the air.

"I said don't move," the person said and kicked me on the ground.

Whoever it was didn't seem too friendly, considering their tone of voice. I panted for a little, while trying to get back on my feet. I was sure my enemy was a child. Meaning there was no way he or she could have knocked me to my feet, bearing in mind how heavy my armor was. Slowly, I turned my gaze and looked up to see who my enemy was. No way, it was just a little boy and he had no weapons, which was rather disappointing. He had gray skin and rather wild green hair; he looked human enough, but at the same time, he didn't. I just couldn't explain it, but there was something about him that reminded me of Ali.

"I told you not to move, didn't I?" he growled at me, putting his foot on my chest and clenching his fists.

He looked like a miniature little dog, barking and growling at me. I didn't need my guns to take him on. I mean, he was a youngster, after all, and by some miracle, he had managed to knock me down to the ground. Quickly, I pulled his leg and threw him to the ground as gently as I could, since he was still just a kid.

"Quit, kid, you can't beat me," I commented, standing up. "Now go back home and play with your toys."

I flexed my neck and shoulders and skipped around on my feet, to get my blood pumping again. I was at least a meter taller than he was and yet it didn't seem to faze him. His posture was smooth and calm, as if he had been in this type of situation a thousand times over.

"I warned you not to move, but you didn't listen," he hissed and dashed towards me.

Painfully to say, I didn't see him coming until it was too late. All I felt was a slight, but powerful pressure in my abdomen. I don't know what happened. But I was sent flying back a few yards in the opposite direction, as if I was hit by a truck. My stomach twisted terribly back, sending me lying back flat for a few seconds. I lifted my head and looked back at the kid. Impossible, this wasn't happening to me now, was it?

"I'm here, Den, what's the problem?" Rick yelled as he dashed towards me. He helped me get up slowly while holding his gun tightly. "What's going on? Where is the enemy? How come you are on the ground in pain?"

"Yeah, long story, but we don't have time to chat now," I said and made a startling dash for my gun.

As predicted, we were no match for these aliens, in hand to hand combat. Just as the gun was within my grasp, I was hit by something strong in the chest so hard my legs locked. It was so painful I barely could breath for a few seconds. I dropped down to my knees and fell sideways, onto the ground.

"What is out there?" Rick yelled, shooting his guns everywhere at once, hoping to hit something. He was going to laugh if I told him it was a kid, nevertheless, a very skilled and dangerous one. Time was of the essence. I was in pain, but I got back up on my feet and quickly viewed my surrounding. The alien kid was hiding somewhere close. Our best chance of survival lay in mutual teamwork.

"Rick, come here," I whispered, using my com link.

I had a plan, but it was going to be difficult to do unless we both worked together flawlessly. From what I could deduce, the kid wasn't alone. He probably had a team with him, hiding somewhere in the thicket—and they were probably close, and were watching our every move. Rick moved swiftly and stopped once he was a few feet from me.

"Okay, I'm here," Rick said, placing his back against mine. "Mind telling me what's going on? Is it a terror beast or something else?"

"You wouldn't believe if I told you. Give me some of the smoke canisters, if you have any?" I whispered to him, extending my left arm outwards.

While Rick was looking through his satchel pack, I massaged my chest softly. I could still feel the pain in my sternum and it ached terribly. It felt like I had been run over by a hover ship. Suddenly, Rick fell to the ground as something small swooshed past us like the wind. I raised my gun, but was unable to track it—it was just gone. That kid wasn't human, if it was a kid to begin with. For all we know, it was a monster disguised as a child. Actually, I was beginning to think that everything on this planet just seemed out of place.

This planet was weird in that it didn't rotate clockwise or anticlockwise, which explained why there was never any long nights on this side of the planet. Such a distortion in the planetary axis was impossible to comprehend. In fact, we had no idea this planet existed until we picked up that signal.

"What was that?" Rick coughed and got up.

He staggered back and balanced himself, by putting weight on his left foot. I moved in front of him, with my gun in front. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, no traces of threat or danger riding in the wind. Wait, the wind. I could track him or it through the movement of wind. Whenever he attacked, he moved against the wind, meaning I could follow his movements and attack at the perfect chance.

"Get ready, Rick," I spoke, lowering my legs halfway to the ground. "He is coming again."

"Who is coming, Den? What is going on?" Rick was confused.

I didn't have the time to explain every detail to him. Besides, it also meant revealing the identity of Ali, who was hiding among the crew members at our main ship. There was a stir in the wind—a strong sense of imminent danger swiftly moving towards us through the ground. The looming shadow jolted past us again, hidden within the scent of the wind. Before we knew it, Rick and I were down again on the ground, groaning in agonizing pain. I was now sure the kid was moving with the wind. But logically, this was not possible. I mean, I knew DNA could mutate and take on a few characteristics, but this was just way too much to say the least. If by some coincidence, a race of humans lived on this planet, then that would explain the power and speed. I mean they had to have been here for at least a few centuries for this kind of evolution to take place.

"Throw your canisters to the ground," I coughed, urging Rick.

He nodded without arguing and threw all of them, at once, onto the ground. I watched the canisters explode into the ground, sending a vapor of mist into the air. Everything was engulfed by the black smoke, completely blinding us to our surrounding. I coughed out loud and ached in pain. Honestly, it felt like one of my ribs had been broken, which was not bad, taking into consideration the alternative. Beyond this fog was a little alien monster with incredible speed and power and I really didn't want to tangle with it. The wind kept whooshing around us without any accurate direction. I noticed something. Every time the wind passed by, the smoke cleared up little by little. It was just a matter of time before we were visible again.

"This isn't good," I chuckled out loud.

I tilted my back up, and sat on my legs for a second. My initial plan had failed, forcing me to improvise. Then a strange thought came to me; it was going to be tough to pull, but it was the only option.

"Rick, where is Huggers?" I whispered to him as silently as I could.

"Oh no, you don't," he raised his voice at me, which shook me a little. "You are not using Huggers as bait to lure whatever is out there."

Why was Rick not seeing the bigger picture here? There was more at stake than nursing that little monster. I shook my head, trying to come up with a way to convince him to think otherwise.

"Rick, please! We are running out of time and this is the only option."

"Think of something else because I won't let you use Huggers as a distraction to escape, he is just a baby."

Yeah right, that little baby was going to grow up one day and feed on us. I wanted to tell him that, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that those words would only provoke him. The last thing I wanted was to have Rick acting irrational.
"I will be the bait," he said, from the com link, and ran out of the smoke.

Yeah, that kind of irrational behavior was what I was afraid of. It was too late to stop him. I got back on my feet and gritted my teeth. Rick had just ruined my perfectly good plan. Dalla was going to kill me if anything happened to her brother, and in this case, probably something will.

"Wait, Rick, come back," I yelled, although I doubted he heard me at all.

Rick had left one of his backup guns lying on the ground. I found it using my sonar scanners. It wasn't a revolver; however, I took it nonetheless. I deployed a small drone from my armor and sent it flying into the air, while I stood motionlessly, hidden inside the smoke. With the small drone in the air, I could see clearly what was happening outside.

Rick was standing outside the smoke's range, with his hands up. "I give up, so please don't attack me."

What was that buffoon doing? He dropped down to his knees as a sign of surrendering, but nothing happened after—which was a surprise. Then the wind picked up and sped right by him, in a jiffy, without knocking him down as before. Everything went silent again. I stealthy tiptoed towards him without leaving the cover of the fog and halted, once he was a few feet from me. I wanted to get close enough to see what was really happening. There was some mysterious secret to the boy's speed and I was determined to uncover it. Again, the wind sprouted, but stopped in front of Rick as a small figure emerged. My legs tightened as I felt anxiety and anticipation build up inside me. I watched the little boy kick Rick's back from behind onto the ground. He stood on top of him, with his right leg resting on top of his back, like a conqueror. That arrogant little fool was really starting to get on my nerves. I really wanted to blast him with a dozen bullets, but my morals kept getting in the way. Glancing down, at his feet, I noticed something bolted to his soles. The heels of his shoes had titanium bladed mini wheels with small boost thrusters. It explained why he was so fast and hard to track. Now everything was starting to make sense.

"I told you people not to move, but you don't listen," he kicked Rick on the back again. "What are you doing on our planet, and what do you want?"

Before I could assault him, I paused midway—his words had struck my interest. Well, for me, but not for Rick, who looked like he was in pain. If I attacked now, I would spook the boy and he would escape, or worse, kill us. Instead, I decided to wait it out and learn more of what this boy knew.

"Rick, keep him talking," I whispered to him from through our com link.

"Well, that's easy for you to say," he commented. "It's not like you are on the ground being trampled on by a little boy, whose foot feels like it weighs 10 tons?"

"You volunteered, so deal with it."

Rick didn't reply back although he did have a point. His life was in danger and I was taking a large gamble by not helping him now. I felt my conscience scream at me to help him, but my body didn't respond. The intel the boy possessed was way too valuable to risk a confrontation at the moment. Even if I attacked, there was a possibility it wouldn't end well for Rick and I.

"If you tell me something, I will tell you something," Rick said, chuckling on the ground.

The little boy kicked him again and rattled, "you are in no position to make demands."

The boy was not spilling any secrets at all. What could I do? The smoke was clearing and he still wasn't talking. Rick kept him busy some more, by asking him random questions, only to get hard kicks in the back. For a minute, I almost revealed myself; however, I moved back and stayed still—biding my time. There were two rules in warfare: never get caught and never get killed. Apparently, I had already broken the first rule and I was close to breaking the second one. Wait, I knew someone who could help us out of this pinch. There was only one person or alien who knew how to handle this type of situation. On the other hand, I wasn't sure if my com link signal was strong enough to reach all the way there.

"Hey, Ali, can you hear me?" I said, increasing the frequency on my com link, to reach a wide range.

There was static on my com link for a while as if something was jamming the signal.

"Yeah, I hear ya, what's the problem?" he replied in a rude voice.

You would think that I did something terrible to him, judging by the tone of his voice, but I really didn't know what. Maybe, some people were just born that way—just cranky and hating anything.

"We ran into a gray boy and I have to say he is really strong and fast. Something about all of this is just not adding up at all," I commented in a low voice. "Care to clue us in on something. Anything at this point will do; I am tired of being kept in the dark."

I could still see Rick in pain as the little boy had his leg on his back. It didn't even make sense at all, in my opinion. Just how strong was he? Or was Rick faking it?

"Den, listen carefully," he said in a serious voice. "That boy is not a monster, he is a human. But one who's DNA has been mutated since he was probably born here. He is most likely a member of the kingdom or a member of the resistance; it's complicated, but just get Rick and Dalla and flee immediately, because he is probably not alone."

Figures, I knew we were in trouble, but I just didn't think it would be this bad and so complicated. His words of warning seemed to leave me even more confused than before. Who was the resistance? Were they enemies or friends? Oh well, I put the matter aside and focused completely.

"How do we flee? The boy is just too fast and strong."

I couldn't believe I was saying that—then again, it explained how half my crew had been taken so easily. I mean, if the boy was this strong, then it was most likely a full grown man was twice as powerful on this planet. How could we possibly beat that?

"Any time now, Den," Rick grunted out loudly and impatiently.

Quickly, I took aim with the gun I had found and pointed it directly at the boy's head. It was probably not going to kill him, but knock him down for a couple of seconds.

"Don't do anything reckless like shooting the boy," the old man said and the com link cut off.

How did he know that? I tried reconnecting the link several times, but the link didn't come back on, and to make things worse, the smoke was almost gone. It was just a matter of time before he looked back and spotted me too. I tilted my back down and I switched the rest of my power supply to my offense and camouflage system. As slowly and as quietly as possible, I crept my way towards him, avoiding any sudden noise. He was so agitated by Rick that he never noticed me coming. Once I got a few inches behind him, I turned on my stunners and touched a portion of his neck at full voltage. The boy fell on the ground, moving uncontrollably for a few seconds, which came as a surprise to me.

"What did you do that for?" Rick yelled from the ground while trying to get up. "He was just a kid and look at the condition you put him in."

I was expecting a thank you from him and not harsh words, although he had a point; I didn't think this through, at all. It seemed electricity had a much more powerful effect on the residents on this planet than we thought. This was the third time electricity had worked marvelously. First, it was against the small terror beasts, and now against this boy, who was by far stronger than us. All I could hypothesize was that electricity somehow interfered more strongly with their nervous system than it did with normal humans.

"You are welcome, Rick," I said sarcastically, and kneeled down on the ground to examine the boy. He was still alive as I saw the frequency of his pulse beating strongly. It was rather impressive in a way. I stood up and began to walk away from him hastily. "We gotta go now, Rick, he isn't alone."

Rick nodded and picked up his gear quickly. He turned on his camouflage system and followed behind me. Suddenly, my drone picked up movements all around us. They were not as loud or as big as terror beasts, based on what I could hear.

"Rick, stop," I warned him, using my com link and we both stopped moving.

I held my gun tighter than before, looking in the direction in front of me, while Rick scanned the opposite direction.

"What do you suppose is making that noise?" Rick whispered to me with fear in his voice. Whatever it was, I didn't want to know or find out because I knew it had to be trouble. I started to hear voices suddenly as they got closer and closer. Seconds later, we saw what looked like people coming towards us.

"Where is he?" a female voice spoke out loudly, "I told him not to go out there alone."

My eyes gazed at her. She had bright, black hair and distinct pale light brown eyes, and her skin was as gray as the boy's—her full figure matched perfectly with her tall height

"I think, I'm in love," Rick sighed out loudly which freaked me out for a second. "Whoever she is, I hope she likes earth boys."

"Shut up, Rick," I shook my head.

If anyone was close, they could have heard it and found us in mere seconds. A group of strange alien warriors rushed past us and examined the crash site closely. For some reason, they dared not get close to our ship, which I found weird. It felt like they knew it was there, but dared not to go anywhere near it. I looked around, closely watching them. There were a handful of them, at least two dozen.

"I found him," one of the voices screamed, coming from where we had left the little boy. "He is in bad shape, but he will live."

The girl with the long black hair ran swiftly and kneeled by the little boy, who was unconscious on the ground. Her hands slipped past his face with an utter feel of concern and worry. She raised him halfway and held him tightly in her arms. I think they were related somehow, maybe brother and sister.

"I did that to him," I thought to myself, and then I started feeling bad.

I wish I hadn't, but it was either him or us, and I chose to save us.

"Whoever did this will pay," she hissed and punched the ground so strongly her fist sunk into the ground.

I imagined that being my face and suddenly felt strong chills creeping up my spine. Was this fear I was sensing? Definitely it was; however, it felt so strange, and yet so strong, that it shook my entire being. Ever since arriving on this planet, I had been feeling rather uncomfortable and downright nervous. I mean, this planet was crawling with terror beasts and powerful alien enemies: I couldn't phantom it.

"I wouldn't mind being pounded in the face by her fist," Rick sighed again. "Oh crap, I didn't know the com link was on so forget what I said bahahaha."

Yeah right, it had been disturbing to hear him say that and it was going to take a miracle to get that thought out of my mind. Either way, it looked like he was going to get his wish after all. The alien girl was furious and it looked like she was about to burst into rage.

"Forget about that, Rick, we need to move now," I whispered as I looked one last time at her and the boy, turning away to search for another way out of this mess.

From what I could tell, we were surrounded and all our paths were blocked by these gray people. It was also strange how they didn't even need a gravity armor suit to move about or oxygen tanks, and yet the old man said they were human.

"Wait, look at those footprints," the girl said, looking on the ground, "they are still fresh, we can't be too far behind them."

Darn, I had not taken that into consideration. Behind us, we had left a large trail of footsteps which were easy to follow. This wasn't good at all. If they followed those tracks they would find us fast and we weren't that far ahead.

"Let's go now through there," I said to Rick, once I found a safe passage through the trees.

There wasn't many aliens patrolling in that area. Our best option was to run and flee from the ship as fast as we could. Dalla was safe as long as she stayed in the ship. We would come back for her, eventually, once they were gone.

"Where to, Den?" Rick said, sounding impatient and agitated.

Rick was right to sound irritated because I felt the same way, considering the odds against us. We were badly outnumbered. Quietly as possible, we moved swiftly in the grassy terrain, barely avoiding contact with our new enemies.

"Guys, where are you?" Dalla spoke as her armor beacon came on our sensors.

Crap, she had woken up too soon. I stopped in my tracks and looked back—my heart began to beat really fast. Dalla was surrounded by a horde of alien warriors and she had no idea of this. Even if we went back for her, there was no way we could fight off those powerful enemies and triumph. Her best chance was to sit still and wait them out to leave. Our ship was still in camouflage mode; however, it wasn't going to last for hours, since we were running on backup power.

"Dalla, stay where you are, you are surrounded by a battalion of alien enemies." I said harshly, alerting her of how serious I was. "We might be in over our heads on this one. Rick and I are going to try and distract them for a bit, to buy you enough time to diagnose and fix the ship, if possible."

"What did you guys do to our ship?" she responded quickly in anger. "It looks terrible."

"Nothing much," I replied, laughing nervously. "Remember, we crashed the ship when our power supply ran out, and well, the rest is history."

"Shhh do you guys hear that?" the girl with the gray skin spoke, almost a few yards away from us.

I was surprised, almost jolting out of my skin. I saw the alien girl pacing towards us, following the trail of our footsteps. Her eyes glued to the ground like white on rice. There were a few alien warriors following behind her, with weapons unknown to me.

"Geez, she doesn't know when to quit, does she?" I said speaking to myself.

"Well, what do you expect?" Rick responded, but in a quick whisper. "You fried that little guy like soft chicken."

True, I hated it when he was right, especially when it came to situations like these. Rick's com link suddenly went high static, in a loud screech, and suddenly all attention turned towards our direction. I saw their faces turn, looking directly in our exact position. The alien girl tilted her head up and began to move slowly towards us.

"Turn it off, Rick," I yelled, but it was too late as our new enemies were running towards us.

In a jiffy of a second, I dodged one of the gray men who almost nabbed me. However, I wasn't fast enough to evade the other warrior who suddenly pinned me from behind, and tossed me on the ground. His grip and power was incredible.

"I have faced people with your type of armor before so that won't work on me," he said, standing on top of me with one of his legs pinning me. "I don't need to see you to know where you are."

Now I suddenly knew how Rick felt, when that little boy had his leg on his chest. It felt like a truck was crashing me to the ground and I didn't like the feeling. Unexpectedly, the man fell on the ground and I heard a voice say, "Run, Den."

It was Rick and he had been the one who had tackled the man, who had me pinned. I quickly got up on my feet and began to run in the direction Rick was running as fast as I could. Jolting hard, I dared not look back at our enemies who most likely were on our tail. Our camouflage system no longer fooled them as before.

"I can fix it, but it will take some time," Dalla spoke to us from the com link.

"Hurry, Dalla, time is definitely one thing we don't have," Rick said, panting really hard.

"Well, try fixing a nuclear fission engine by yourself and see how quickly you can do it," Dalla growled at Rick rudely.

Darn, this wasn't the time for a sibling argument, but apparently they didn't care. I took a risk and glanced back for a second. The aliens were a good bit behind us and losing ground. We ran even further through the terrain, rushing through trees, in a zigzag pattern, to confuse them. Our random movements were not enough to truly lose them, although it would buy Dalla the time she needed to fix our ship.

"Man, she doesn't give up," Rick glanced back.

"Are you serious?" I spotted the alien girl slightly behind us and gaining on us.

Her speed and tracking abilities were beyond comprehension. She was on our trail like a hound dog and there was only one way to lose her.

"We have to split up," I said, looking at the alternative choices we had.

We could either stop and fight her, but considering how potentially strong she was, that was not the most rational choice. She moved swiftly with such remarkable agility, one could not help but admire her. Our best choice was to keep running and lose her by splitting into two opposite directions.

"Okay, Den," Rick agreed with me, changing direction quickly.

I shifted my body and dashed through in the east direction. The alien girl gained speed and followed behind me, easily moving through the trees. I definitely couldn't lose her if I kept running on the ground. Flying was my only option in this dilemma. Well, there was slightly one kink in that plan. The propulsion system was offline, more than half the power had been redirected into the camouflage system mode. I had no defense weapons and to make things worse, my armor had suffered slight external damage from my previous encounter. I felt her breath directly behind me and getting closer—her arms extended out like she was trying to grab me. I looked back and saw her face, her eyes dimmed with fierce fire, and an intense desire for vengeance. Knowing what awaited me, I ran even faster and gained a few yards from her grasp.

From the corner of my ears, I heard a terrible roar of a terror beast and found myself in their territory. She still didn't quit chasing after me, despite hearing the growling echoes of these terrifying creatures. Wait a minute, that roar sounded so familiar, like I had heard it from before. It reminded me of the terror beasts we had encountered before, but that was impossible, wasn't it? Had they been tracking us the whole time? I felt my stomach turn at the thought.

Before I knew it, I was on the ground barely able to move my body. It felt like my armor had shut down completely without my consent.

"I will make you pay for what you did to my brother," a feminine voice hissed in harsh tone.

I could sense the incredible danger I was in and yet there was nothing I could truly do. She was strong just as I had projected. She had me pinned down completely, using some martial art technique I was not familiar with. My shoulders were completely locked out, and any sudden movement could dislocate them, not good. I sighed slowly as I thought my way out of this dire situation.

"Listen," I began, with fear in my voice, "I'm sorry about what I did to your brother, I wasn't meaning to kill him or anything. Let's get out of here first and you can do whatever you want to me later. Terror beasts are everywhere and we need to run, right now."

She didn't respond to my reasoning; I felt her grip tighten though. Her body movements gave her feelings away. The moment I mention her brother, I felt her breathing slow to a halt. She definitely cared for him a lot. Something moved, hidden behind the trees—it lingered and growled softly as if stalking its prey.

"Wait here for a while," she ordered and jumped away from me so gracefully she was like a ballerina.

I sensed the impending danger and ignored her command. Quickly, I deployed two drones from my suit for surveillance of the area, in order to estimate the number of terror beasts in the area. I was surprised by the sheer number alone which ranged above 20 or so. We were definitely done for and there was no escaping unharmed, or better yet, in one piece. As soon as my drones were far above the sky, out of range from any terror beasts, I began to try to reboot my suit; however, most of my power had been drained out. It was going to take a while to redirect the remaining power to my weapon system. I felt the camouflage fade out as I became visible again. In a glimpse of a second, I caught sight of the girl with the gray skin, running and ducking in the forest above me. She wasn't that hard to spot considering everything around us was blue and so were the terror beasts, which in my opinion, was quite annoying. The girl took out a weapon, which emitted electricity, and began to fight her way into the horde of the terror beasts. It seemed my intuition was right; electricity did harm the beasts greatly. My eyes tracked the alien girl's movements, from left to right, and then up with great difficulty—she was just so fast.

One thing was for sure, she was quite fearless and bold. One by one, the terror beasts dropped on the ground, like feathers, but more appeared, joining the ranks with every passing minute. I tensed my body as I thought through about my next move. I realized I had to help her if we were to survive this situation. Plus, that was the only chance I had to show that I wasn't a bad person. Before I realized it, two more terror beasts fell next to me, stunned out cold completely as if dead. I jumped away, surprised, but amazed. Just who was this girl? Two things were certain for sure, she was no slouch and using electricity on the terror beasts was one way to knock them down. But why had no one on earth figured this out yet? But what if they did and were somehow withholding this information from the rest of the public? No, something about this situation felt out of place. I assumed the terror beasts on this planet were weaker than the ones ravaging earth. Yep, that made more sense to me.

"Darn this," I yelled at myself, knowing how helpless I was.

I couldn't figure out this puzzling mechanical mystery and stood there silently. The frustration kept building up as I knew that any second from now could be my last. The ground shook hard from the sheer mass of the creatures. In that moment, I had a baffling realization. This wasn't a coincidence, was it? I just couldn't put my finger on it yet, but this situation felt so out of the ordinary, and yet so familiar.

"Follow me," the girl appeared in front of me without warning.

She nicked my armor hard, pushing me a little back at the same time. Strangely, my suit came back online and all my systems became operational again. Had she done something to it when I wasn't looking? Possibly, when she pinned me to the ground. Could explain why it took so long to reboot the power and weapon systems back. I looked hard around while following behind her.

"Where to now?" I asked, carefully observing a terror beast that had set its sight on me, out of everything else.

Oh no! I knew this beast; it was one of the big terror beasts that I had seen after I fried the small terror beasts in our previous encounters. I had a feeling this might happen, although I thought I was just paranoid. The creature growled, stealthily moving in close.

"Just follow me," she hissed and began to run fast towards east.

I watched her move for a second, before looking back at my stalking enemy. There was no way I could keep up with the alien girl, let alone outrun the beast. Quickly, I turned on my flight system and took off for the skies, using my new propulsion system. The rocket thrusters roared out, blitzing me up into the sky faster than I had ever done, previous to now. I was glad to have got rid of the wings because they were complicated. They were fun to begin with, but the feeling got old quickly. Just as I thought I was finally safe, I sensed something. I looked down quickly, barely ducking out of range from the terror beast I was running away from. It had jumped into the trees and used them as leverage to gain a momentum leap towards me. Thankfully, I noticed it in time to evade safely. The creature descended down, landing on a tree forcibly. It turned its large head and looked back at me, with a snarling look. This creature was incapable of emotion and yet it wanted revenge against me for what I had done. Knowing this, I shot a few proton bullets at it with Rick's gun, to slow it down for a while; however, it just stood there and took all the hits like they were nothing.

"Show off," I chuckled and flew out of range, planning to get away from both the terror beasts and the girl from before.

If she was also bent on revenge, it was most likely she was tracking me from the ground. But if I was to move out of range, in the sky, she wouldn't find me for a while. Well, that was if I was lucky enough to stay out of sight. The sky was so clear, and so blue, it almost made me throw up. Honestly, I was getting tired of seeing this blue color all around this planet. You would think they might, I mean just maybe, find something else on this planet with a different color. It was indeed strange and yet fascinating to say the least. How could one planet be composed of only one color? So many variables seemed out of place. I looked down and everything seemed tiny from this distance. With each second, I moved further and further from Rick and Dalla. The com link signal was static for some unknown reason, as it appeared to be some kind of interference from an outside source. I could still hear terror beasts roaring beneath me, but it wasn't as loud as before. Abruptly, I felt a slight disturbing vibration within my armor. I was losing power with each minute of flight. Probably, due to my overuse of the electrical weapon system.

"Rick, can you hear me?"

There was no answer and I was barely picking up any signals. I stopped halfway, in the air, hovering effortlessly to conserve power. My mind reassured me that I was out of harm's way for now—it was time to go back and rejoin the others. We had lost enough time already as it was. Quickly, I recalibrated myself and coordinated my tracking system back to the cargo ship. I was fifty-six miles away from them, east from the ship's position. It was going to be tricky getting back, considering there might be a trap waiting for me. I seriously hated this planet with a passion.

"Oh well," I sighed out, placing my hand against my visor.

I decided to take the gamble and go back, but just close enough to survey the area. Time was critical, every passing second could decide my fate. I turned around and flew back rapidly to our ship—my heart thumping greatly with agonizing expectation. Once I got close enough to where the ship was, I landed on one of the high trees and tried to blend in. Rather a difficult ordeal, since I stood out from everything else blue. There was a rustle in the wind, followed by a really long silence, as if everything went dead around me. I looked everywhere and caught sight of nothing in plain sight and not even a trace of heat to pick up from my scanners. I knelt down, on one of the trees' branches, and tried my com link one more time, but it was still nothing but static. To be safe, I waited ten more minutes, quietly, hidden safely on the branches of the tree. Nothing moved or echoed at all. After one more minute, I slowly climbed down and moved through the trees, making my way towards the ship. From what I could see, Rick was still missing alongside with the ship. Was this the right location? The crash site was right in front of me, but everyone was gone. I walked around, resetting my bearings again, and stumbled upon a small, little cube box on the ground. It was the size of a small stone and yet so well built. I couldn't tell what it was, but it looked important—possibly, a component from the ship. I bent down and slowly picked it up anyway, placing it in my empty pocket for safe keeping. Suddenly, I realized that the sky was turning dark and gloomy. What was happening now? The sky thundered out as precipitation built heavily up above me.

It felt like rain was about to fall except it was impossible for this planet to have rain, wasn't it? Nah, it was definitely impracticable, and maybe I was just imagining things. My scanners beeped out loudly, projecting my exact location. Now what?

I knew where I was and the exact location of the ship; I was not misreading my bearings. Something must have happened while I was away. I knelt on one knee and scanned the ground thoroughly. There were no signs of struggles and no residues of proton burst particles. So what did it mean? Had Dalla escaped or been captured? Scanners picked up heat trails, showing me that the ship had moved a few miles away from my location. I quickly twisted my body and began to run towards it, hoping to find Dalla and Rick. I ran for a couple of miles, but I didn't find them—the trail went cold, all of a sudden. All I felt was empty air all around me. I looked up and realized that the ship had taken off for the skies. So to make things clearer, I was all alone on this freaky planet, surrounded by terror beasts and strong gray aliens, who considered me their enemy. Crap! What else could go wrong? With the com link nothing but static, and my power supply draining out, I had to think of something fast, otherwise, I was stuck here. I stopped in my tracks, zoning deeply into my thoughts. Logically, I had to rely on the power of my intellect.

"What would I do if I was Rick or Dalla?"

If I was them, I would continue the mission. That sounded like something they would do. I had the coordinates implanted into my armor and they knew that, meaning they were expecting me to follow and catch up with them somehow. According to Ali, the kingdom was east, about 500 miles from me. Possibly, Rick and Dalla were on their way there. It seemed like the most coherent answer, so I decided to head east for that kingdom. It was a long hard walk through the treacherous forest of the planet. At each turn, I kept looking cautiously in every direction for any enemy activities. I only had a few rounds of ammunition in Rick's gun, and four each, in my emergency revolvers, which I could only use in desperate times. Although, this did count as a desperate situation. I felt my hands tremble down to grab them. My mind drove them away, allowing me to think clearly again. I couldn't waste them on little situations like these. I paused briefly to take a break; the long travel was starting to take its toll on my weary body.

Without a hover ship, it was going to take me days to catch up, judging by the speed I was moving. The blue woods were silent all around me as if it was all empty. Any ordinary man would relax and take a nap, but I knew better than anyone else what lay on this planet. I felt the silence as a signal for oblivion. I stood back after half an hour and continued, little by little, in the east direction. Every step bringing me closer to the truth, whether good or bad. I liked being alone, but this was truly ridiculous. Just beyond a hill, I came across the end of the forest. Below, a terrain missing trees and completely engulfed high by very tall blue grass. I sighed out loud, holding my knees; I had no idea how long I had walked for, but it was really getting a bit shady blue in the sky. Then suddenly it began to rain. This was not something I had anticipated. I looked at the falling drops of water in the sky as if seeing it for the first time.

"Oh come on, not this of all things."

It was definitely strange to think it could rain on this planet, theoretically; nevertheless, I had seen weirder things like people with gray skin and ravaging blue monsters. The rain poured down heavily and quickly as if someone was pouring a bucket of water on the entire planet. This was great because it meant the terror beasts wouldn't come looking for me for while, I mean, just until the rain stopped falling anyway. Before I knew it, my body was lying flat on the ground against the rain. Slowly, but surely I felt a sudden warmth in my gut as I began to drift away into sleep. "Don't sleep," I warned myself as I got drowsier and fell asleep.

"Hey, Den, come here," Joe said, standing next to a bench.

He was sitting by himself, reading a magazine.

"Wait, a minute!"

Was this a dream? It felt like a dream, although I could be hallucinating. There was only one way to test it out and see if I was dreaming or not. I jumped as I high as I could while closing my eyes. As soon as I opened them, I noticed that I was floating in the sky, gazing down on the world. This was the best thing ever and I couldn't wait to see what else I could do in this dream. I mean, it's not every day one could manipulate and control his own dreams.

"Yikes," I screamed, noticing Joe floating next to me, looking at me with disappointed eyes.

"What's your problem, Joe?"

He smacked his forehead like I had asked a stupid question and said, "you still don't know what this is all about, do you?"

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that, I'm sure I would be a rich man. "No, so tell me," I demanded, looking back at him without flinching.

I wanted him to know that I wasn't backing down, no matter what, until he told me why he was here. He chuckled and began to float down in an irritating and annoying manner.

"Darn it! This is my dream, you have to answer me because I rule this place," I growled and appeared next to him on the bench.

I flicked my finger and the bench he was sitting on disappeared; however, he didn't fall. It was as if he was sitting on an invisible bench.

"See that, I can do anything in here," I boasted, folding my hands in a dominant manner, with my eyes closed.

"If you are the boss of this place, then where is Rose?" Joe said without changing the tone of his voice—not even one bit.

He hit me where it hurt the most. That question was worse than a stab to the heart with a sharp knife, figuratively speaking of course. Now I remembered why I really hated Joe. He was one of my good friends, but at times, I hated how he asked direct questions.

"She was your fiancée and you were supposed to get married, but you don't even know where she is now, do you?"

I wondered if I could punch him in this dream or would it go right through him. "Well, it's complicated and I'm sure she is safe somewhere on earth."

Joe suddenly stopped reading his holographic magazine and looked at me without blinking. "Just how much do you know about Rose?"

He stood up and walked in the opposite direction, without looking at me. What did he mean by that? His mind games would not work on me.

"You arrogant jerk, get back here—I'm not done with you," I hissed, running after his faint shadow.

Without warning, he vanished like nothing and all that was left was me, a cloudy sky, and a bench. Just what did he want to say to me? Couldn't I make him reappear before me again? It was worth a shot since I had so many questions for him, and he had all the answers I needed.

"Joe, appear," I said, dazzling my hands but nothing happened. I tried more chants but nothing happened again. "Oh well, I guess there is nothing I can do."

I sat on the bench, thinking. He was right though, I actually didn't know a whole lot about Rose. I mean, I knew her favorite color was green, no I mean pink, or wait she mentioned blue.

Suddenly, everything just vanished as I woke up. Another strange dream indeed! They seemed to be getting weirder and weirder each night. At least the rain had ceased falling. There was a strong wind blowing down against me, going west. The only thing that kept it from blowing me away was the rock behind me. My scanners were picking up something like a tropical cyclone passing through; it wasn't exactly passing through, but dazing back and forth without a clear direction. This planet defied most laws of physics, and if I wasn't in danger, I would be fascinated to study it more closely.

"So this is where you are?" a familiar cold voice said, speaking to me.

I knew this voice and I hoped it wasn't who I thought it was. A dark figure came out of the tall blue grass, holding something that looked like a tracker. I was sure I had lost her hours ago. Her persistence was admirable.

"You sure took your time," I snickered nervously, attempting to sound confident. It was the girl from before and she was alone from what I could see.

"It was traffic, but I'm here now," she said, drawing out her magnificent spear that shot electricity. One burst of that spear had enough power to bring down a terror beast—and should I get hit with that, it was going to be trouble. It looked hopeless for me, so I gave up quickly and decided to surrender.

"Are you going to fight me or come peacefully?" she asked, firmly gripping the spear tightly, while staring at me with a frightening look. Her eyes radiated flawlessly with intense craze.

As tempting as it was to try and escape my way out of this situation, I did absolutely nothing, but just sit there and chuckle. "Fine, you got me."

Odds were less favorable if I kept going east by myself, because I could either get lost or killed. Best bet was to stay with her and learn more about this horrible planet. Granted the right opportunity presented itself, I would sneak away and flee back.

"Get on your feet, now," she commanded me, folding her hands out of distaste. "Follow me and don't try anything funny!"

Alright, I rose up and began to follow her, heading north, in an unknown location. My drones had not scanned that area, so I had no idea where we were going at all and whether it was safe.

"Where are we going?" I asked her, walking a few feet behind her.

She took a small glance at me and faintly smiled: "you'll find out soon enough."

7

Hours passed by us so fast, I felt them in my legs as we walked through vast blue forestry. I was worn out to say the least. Despite having fought a hard battle against the terror beasts, the alien girl's speed and stamina didn't seem affected at all—she showed no signs of fatigue. I, on the other hand, could say I was at my limits and wanted to stop.

"How far is this place you are taking me?" I asked, as I stopped walking and sat down to take a breather. "You can kill me if you want, but I need to take a break, right now." My knees and feet ached terribly. She stopped in her tracks and stared at me, full of resent like I had killed someone. Oh yeah, that's right, I had almost fried her brother to crisp. I completely got where she was coming from, and I would have probably reacted in the same manner. Question was why was she keeping me alive? What kind of maniacal scheme did she have in mind for me, once I got to their territory?

"Are you sure you want to do that?" she snickered in a comment to scare me. "This territory is filled with those creatures and I don't think you want to stay here too long."

That being so, I didn't care even for a bit—as I was, practically, exhausted physically and mentally. "Just give me five minutes, okay?" I said, closing my eyes like I was getting ready to sleep.

She jumped into the air and landed on the ground, with her right foot on my chest, in barely a second. It wasn't long after before I realized what had happened and the fact that I couldn't move. "You are lucky that my sister, our leader, wants to see you, otherwise, I would have torn you to shreds."

For some reason, I believed her—I meant the part about tearing me to shreds. But who was she talking about? I wasn't special or anything; however, to have their leader want to see me was something out of the ordinary. Normally when a leader wanted to see you, it usually meant they wanted something from you and the bargaining chip was usually your life. But what could she need from me?

Since I was already trapped, I decided to take a gamble and asked, "What does your leader want from me?"

I could only hope I didn't say anything to offend her, otherwise, I wasn't going to like the results. Her eyes gave no answers away. She was almost lacking in emotion.

"Good question," she said and jumped back away, releasing me from her grasp. "We'll just have to find out and then you can atone for your crime."

"As I seem to recall, it was your brother who attacked us in the first place," I whispered, blinking slowly.

"He was just a kid," she growled at me, "it's not like he was going to kill you or anything."

True enough, he had warned us not to move before he attacked. But I had acted on impulse as I thought he was a threat. Thinking back, I probably shouldn't have. Well, there were a lot of things I wish I hadn't done, like eating that dried up cake back at the main ship. That could explain why my stomach hurt so much like this. I looked up, towards the sky, which had turned an almost blue grayish color, in wonder and full of thoughts. Just what was I doing here of all places? I should have stayed on earth to look for Rose, instead of running around playing hero with a bunch of psychopaths. It was definitely times like these I wish life were simple and boring.

"Okay, that's enough rest, get up," she said and launched me back to my feet roughly, with her left hand.

Such strength, I couldn't help, but think highly of her craze and intensity. I truly wished I had that kind of drive. As soon as I was up back on my feet, thanks to her helping hand, I brushed blue dust off my feet and took a long deep breath.

"Alright then," I mumbled, walking slowly in front of her, travelling to an unknown part of the planet.

This didn't feel right, it felt like she was leading me into a trap. It sure smelled like a trap, felt like one too, well that was what my gut was telling me. However, it was too late to try and escape, considering how far we had walked. I could have tried to fight her off, but with the battle experience in her favor, winning was out of the option. Besides, I was curious to know where her base was and if there was some connection between her and the people who took my crew. I had enough firing power in my armor left to take out as many of them as I could, but if I failed then it would be the end of it. Things definitely looked bad at the moment. All I could do, for now, was play along and follow behind her as the captured prisoner of war. Suddenly, my feet sank and I fell into what looked like water. I tilted my head down too late to react. Realizing I had sunk into a pot hole of clear liquid, I struggled hard to get out with no sense of direction. Zoning into my own thoughts had led me into this dire situation, exposing me to the harsh elements of this planet. Fortunately, I could still breathe, since my oxygen tanks were still on.

I stopped moving and allowed myself enough time to think briefly. My heart was beating out of my chest, it was painful. I didn't think my heart could handle all this stress. I tried looking in the direction of my bubbles, planning to follow them to the surface. Surprisingly, they all bubbled around me in a mini circle, which spooked me for a little bit. This sort of thing usually intensified my interest in the labs, as I knew all the properties of water or any other liquid of that sort. However, it was safe to say, I had never seen anything like it before, speaking in general of course. What was I thinking? I was trapped and all I could think about was science? My heart began to race again; I felt a sudden sage of adrenaline rushing through me. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed me with such a force it dented my armor. I was pulled out of the water and onto the land, so fast, I barely noticed it happened. As I panted heavily, I looked around, embracing my freedom from oblivion and trying to look at the hero, who had saved me. Oh, I wasn't exactly free yet. It was the girl who had rescued me. She was looking at me with a sinister smile, with her arms folded.

"Were you expecting someone else?" she snickered in a comment and picked up her weapon, which had struck the water.

Truth is, I really did expect someone else to be my rescuer. But then again, I wasn't complaining either.

"Admit it, you are growing fond of me," I said, standing up as water fell from my armor. "You just couldn't let me go, could you?"

She stopped in her tracks and looked at me with such piercing eyes, "believe what you want, thank my sister. If she didn't give me the order to spare your life, I would have left you inside there to rot."

Oh, at least she was honest—I liked that. Although, her words pierced me deeply like a spear, but that was to be expected. I staggered back to my feet out of pure exhaustion. Fortunately, my armor seemed to be working slightly below decent. I had at least two or three hours worth, before the power battery pack ran out.

"Don't fall behind or next time I won't be here to help you," she spoke as she walked ahead of me.

Normally, it was a standard thing to thank the person who saved your life. Yet, I was not going to thank her at all. My pride wouldn't allow such a thing. I took one look back to see where I had fallen, and I was surprised by my discovery. The pot hole had just vanished. It was still there, I was sure of it. I put the matter aside and hurried along to catch up with the girl.

"Do you ever get tired of this blue color?"

She didn't reply, and because of that, I didn't bother making an effort to ask her again. I could tell that she hated my guts and I was really pushing my luck by annoying her. Without warning, she stopped and looked straight ahead. I immediately stopped and looked in the same direction. Just what was she looking at? All I could see were trees in front of us. The whole forest was blue, just like everything else on this stupid planet. Something about this particular place seemed out of the ordinary to her, of course. My scanner system was going haywire from some electromagnetic interference.

"We are here," she said and pushed me down with such force I fell on my face.

"Hey, what was that for?" I screamed still lying on the ground.

At the same time, she ducked on the ground as I saw something that looked like a laser sweep by us in a flash. Everything a meter above was cut in half—trees fell below, making a cracking, hard noise. "What had I gotten myself into?"

The ground beneath our feet began to shift and change so suddenly, knocking me further off balance. Some big guns, I mean, really big guns appeared out of the ground and were pointed directly at us.

"Just my luck," I sighed and quickly got up, moving out of the way. "Would you mind telling your friends to stand down?"

This was ridiculous, I mean—I was an enemy, but this was a bit extreme. The big guns began charging up what looked like proton rays, harnessing the power of an unknown natural element. The amount of energy they were emitting was absolutely incredible; it would take ten generators to produce this much energy.

"It's a test, so try not to get killed."

"What, are you serious?"

It seemed I had fallen into the hands of paranoid psychopaths. I usually didn't do too well under pressure, most of the time, I crumbled. To show them I meant no harm, I didn't move out of the way. It was a risky move, but the most logical. Abruptly, the big gun on the left fired down, nearly taking my head off. I quickly moved, sensing the impending danger, and dashed forward for cover. The longer I stayed here, the more likely I would die. All the trees had been cut off, meaning there wasn't anywhere to hide.

"This can't be real."

For once, I wished to solve my problems with no issues or having to resort to violence. The anger inside me swelled up and I took out Rick's gun and fired proton bullets at the big guns. The blasts had no effect on their metallic hulls. I couldn't even see a dent on them. It was futile effort on my part. Realizing this, I stopped firing bullets to conserve the rounds and just kept running for my life. The other gun opened fire, barely missing both my legs. Had I not jumped into the air at the time, I would have been missing two limbs.

"What kind of test was this?"

It felt like they were trying to end my existence. There had to be a way out of this mess, but unfortunately, I hadn't thought of it. I looked up and saw about 8 small cameras, hidden within the debris. These aliens were watching me and analyzing my armor. What did they want from me? Unexpectedly, the two big guns began firing at the same time, directly at me. Everything became ablaze in red fire and smoke, the air around me filled up with cloudy haze from the unknown powder, as the surrounding area became a hot zone. I ducked away, crawling between wooden stumps as I tried to get away. There was no escape for me this time. Just before I could jolt again, the big guns stopped firing and began to sink into the ground quickly.

"Well, this is new, but I'll take it," I whispered to myself and gripped my gun even tightly.

Was it over now? I panted heavily, lifting up to my feet. This experience was by far one of the worst things to happen to me, I thought.

"If I were you, I would begin running, now," the girl yelled at the top of her lungs, from a branch of a really tall tree.

I looked up and saw her hidden tightly, a bit far away from my position. I had no idea how she got up there. At this point, nothing surprised me anymore. Something bad was about to happen. But what did she mean by start running? I pondered at the thought for a minute and looked straight down. The ground was shifting again, without warning, and this time, small terror beasts appeared. They didn't exactly look like baby terror beasts in that they were a bit bigger and were armed with blades and guns on their abdomens. My heart faltered out of sheer terror; this was the last thing I expected to see.

"Seriously! When will this nightmare end?"

Times like this were the ones I wish I was in my lab coat, using my mini electron centrifuge, trying to isolate electron particles. Those days were boring, but at least I still had my head intact and I was happy. I looked at the new monsters before me and slightly backed away. There was something out of the ordinary about these creatures. Aside from having blades on their abdomen, they moved distinctively different from normal terror beasts. Without realizing it, I was struck from behind, causing me to stagger on my feet. Everything was blurry and obscure for a second. Once I got hold of myself, I firmly gripped my gun and switched my flight system on. I soared sorely out of range, distancing myself, far up, regaining a better coverage of the situation.

"I know already!"

My suit blinked frequently, warning me about the low power I had remaining. I landed far away from the creatures, on high ground, in order to conserve my remaining power. The ground beneath my feet was really unstable—all I felt was a slow tremor that shook everything silently. More armed terror beasts came out of the ground, launching a massive assault on me. I was certain now; I wasn't dealing with normal terror beasts at all. The way they moved and executed their attacks was more consistent and coordinated. It was definitely not what normal terror beasts did. This sort of flabbergasted me. Instinctively, I turned on my flight thrusters and took off for the skies. I had less than five minutes of flight, so this had to be perfect execution. My body shivered at the thought of losing power and falling victim to these beasts.

Quickly, I retaliated and fired proton bullets at the terror beasts, planning to destroy them while I still had the chance. I was playing right into their hands. This was what the enemy wanted. To study all my tactics, moves, and weapons, in order to duplicate and use them against us. I still had my revolvers, but I wasn't going to let the enemy see them and possibly seize them, before I could truly use them. I had to find another way to destroy these creatures without using my last resort. I felt my movements become sluggish as the suit vibrated at small intervals. It was likely my fate rested within the next few minutes of play. I stopped shooting my gun for a minute and thought carefully of a plan. As I was thinking, I noticed that they were still some trees still standing at a distance.

"If only I can make it that far."

Speedily, I hovered my way towards them, conserving as much of my power as possible. One of the thrusters gave out a distinct noise informing me of the impending danger. There was a loud and alarming noise coming from it.

"Please make it."

By some fortunate chance, I made it there and landed roughly on the nearest tree closest to me. The first phase of the plan had worked perfectly, but now came the hard part. I began firing my weapon at the terror beasts in order to get their attention. They fell for my snare and dashed towards me quickly, completely gullible to my scheme. What I didn't expect was them firing weapons at me from their mouth like that giant lizard did. I ducked and hid against the bark of the tree—while carefully keeping my attention towards them. Were they all robots as well? That would explain the movements and their weapons. That being the case, I was still in over my head. The tree vibrated as if something had hit it. I looked down and saw one of the terror beasts climbing up. More followed suit as they shacked the tree in great numbers. Fortunately, this tree was a strong one, but I doubted it would hold out against that much combined weight. It was just a matter of time before they were all up here. Second phase of the plan might have worked too well. This was absolutely the worst test anyone could ever give me. Were they expecting me to fail? But what would happen if I passed? Nothing about any of this made any sense. How would I know if I passed or failed? Oh well, I gambled all my cards onto the floor and set up Rick's gun to self distract with a remote detonator. The last phase of the plan involved blowing up the tree and making it fall onto the creatures. It wasn't exactly what I would call perfect, but it was better than nothing. Only problem with it was too many flaws. Despite all those kinks, my strategy had worked. The armored terror beasts were halfway up and climbing the tree quickly. I had a few more seconds to carry out the last phase. Looking around, I spotted cracks and quickly placed the gun on the biggest one I could fit the gun through. Out of nowhere, one of the monsters attacked me and lunged onto my throat plate, lashing to rip it apart. Its grip was hard and tight, I could barely shake it off. Dangerously, I took a gamble and used a burst charge in my suit to electrically stun it. Doing this, I saw the remaining power take a massive plunge down, towards critical low levels.

"Darn it," I whispered out frustrated.

My attempt to kill the creature with electricity had failed. The armored terror beast let go off me and fell below to the ground hard. It was only stunned for a few seconds before getting up to climb the tree again. Just what were these annoying creatures? I locked my knees with all my senses at high alert. The creatures were coming in really fast and would attack without mercy. This was definitely not in the pay description for this job. To think I had spent all that time studying in school, just to be eaten or ripped apart by monsters? What a joke. I definitely needed to have a talk with my guidance councilor again after this was all over.

"Wait, what am I saying?" I slapped myself back to reality, in time to dodge what looked like a blade that had been spat out at me. "Great! Now they can spit blades, too?"

It seemed things kept getting worse with each minute, and I was right smack in the middle of this huge storm. Quickly, I rotated my body, vertically, and jumped swiftly out of range in time, nearly avoiding two terror beasts that were coming from below. I had no way to predict their movements. It felt like they had been trained by someone. Perfect, they were nearly all centered on the tree. This was the moment I was waiting for. I took out the detonation trigger and held it tightly with my right hand—there was no margin for error. I waited for a few more seconds to allow myself to get out of the blast radius. Suddenly, one of the creatures readied itself to jump towards me, which was totally unexpected. I pulled the trigger too carelessly and exploded the gun before the creature could attack. There was a big blast centered on the tree hoarding the creatures. All I could see were bright red flames and a burning sensation as if my body was on fire. I landed hard onto the ground, groaning in agonizing pain. My whole body felt like it was engulfed in an inferno. It seemed I had not escaped the blast barely unharmed. But it was finally over. I trembled onto my back as I observed the surrounding, by rotating my head. There was debris, far and wide, and everything was synched and burning in red fire—nothing could have survived that, or at least I hoped. I struggled to get up, but my body wouldn't let me. I had sustained damage beyond a few drugs and good night's sleep. Definitely not good, taking into account, where I was, at the moment. All I could do was rotate my head, back and forth, and even that took a lot of effort. Thinking back, it was probably not a good idea to blow the tree so close to myself. Oh well, it had already happened and there was no going back.

"That's enough," a voice roared from somewhere, and echoed throughout the sky.

I looked up and saw a small armed terror beast near me, with it jaws aimed at my thigh, just frozen there. A chill of fear ran down my spine at the thought of what could have happened, if that voice had not spoke out. Although this feeling of fear seemed logical, pending my current dilemma.

"Take him and clear this mess already," the voice commanded.

It was a feminine voice and sounded so powerful. You could tell a lot by the way someone speaks, and in this voice—I felt a lot power. Maybe, I was just delusional, but there was something about this voice that seemed familiar, like it belonged to someone I once knew. No, it couldn't be, could it? Nah, I was just imagining it and I needed to stop. The last thing I needed to do was reminisce about the past in a situation like this. I heard footsteps; however, couldn't pinpoint where they were coming from.

"This guy looks heavy," an alien man appeared from nowhere and spoke. "It won't be easy to carry him without removing his armor."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I yelled out from the ground as loud as I could. "Nobody is removing my armor, not today or any other night."

I had no set of clothes, except for boxers, so it was bad if they took off my armor. Probably my shy nature talking for me.

"Use your head, Maury," another alien approached, walking confidently towards us. "His body is not used to our gravity; if he takes off the armor, he will most likely be crashed under the weight of our gravity."

"Yeah, what he said," I said, supporting the other guy. That excuse seemed more probable, compared to telling them that I had no clothes under this armor. Besides, this armor was stuck on me, but there was no point telling them that. The less the enemy knew, the better it was for me. Could not afford to compromise our mission any further, even if it was to save my own skin.

"Use my gravity lift," the man handed the guy called Maury a strange device and left, shortly after. This day was turning out a lot better than I expected. I mean, I had not bit the dust yet which was good. My future seemed uncertain at this point. What were they going to do to me next? Barely breathing, I was at their mercy. My stomach tightened at the thought of them torturing me to my demise for information.

"I really can't believe you did that though," Maury commented, readjusting the strange device in his hands. "Not a whole lot of fools out there still willing to pull out dangerous stunts like that. You must have nerves of steel or something."

He tinkered with it for a moment and pointed it down at me. Something happened as I could feel a flash of rays lift me off the ground. It felt like I was weightless, like a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders. Hated to admit it, but that was an amazing work of technology.

"But you know what?" he walked in front of me, and at the same time, pulling me behind him. "I am very impressed with your generation. You have taken technological advancement to the next level. It seems, earth went through a lot of changes since we left, centuries ago."

He knew our language quite well. In fact, every alien I met seemed fluent in it. That being said, his physical appearance was not that of an earthling. I mean his skin, mainly, of course. There were no gray men on earth, and trust me, I knew. Every earthling was a mixture of different races that all blended together a few centuries back when the world government formed a one earth country. It was just illogical for there to be gray people, but then again— accounting what I had been through, I could be wrong. Since he was willing to talk, I saw my opportunity to get some answers.

"When was that, if you don't mind me asking?"

He glanced back me and chuckled, "a few centuries ago; back then, things were different. From what I can see from you, there has been new development."

"Yeah, well, if you can call terror beasts wreaking havoc on earth a development, then yes, there is definitely major change," I sarcastically replied back.

"What is a terror beast?" he paused and looked backed at me, with a serious look on his face.

It suddenly dawned on me. How could I not have realized this? On earth, we called them terror beasts, but on this planet, they called them something else, possibly.

"Well, you see," I tried to find better words to explain it to him. "Those creatures in the forest, on this planet, are actually finding their way to earth."

Not subtle; however, he got the message. I definitely could have said it in better words, but this wasn't a public speaking contest after all.

"What! Impossible" he growled, with shock filled eyes, like he had heard something terrible.

Oh wait, I had told him something terrible so this reaction was to be expected to say the least. But why did he care? What was earth's future to him? Maurice stood still for a couple of seconds with his head down. There was a sense of anger brewing inside of him—I felt it like a cold piercing dagger.

"So it has already started," he whispered, with sweat dropping down his head; it looked like he was basking in the oven.

His once vibrant movements had now been replaced with irrational frantic gestures that spooked me out a little. Something about what I had said had left him feeling irrational. I was curious as to know what it was. Asking him questions right now seemed like a really terrible idea.

"This is bad, I have to warn the others," he said and started to walk quickly, while dragging me behind on the gravity lift.

So did this mean he didn't know about what was happening on earth? But what could it all mean? His facial expression had changed when I told him about the beasts coming to earth, but what I couldn't tell was why. More importantly, were these people my enemy or friends? We went right past the debris and rubble, going to an unknown location. Maurice suddenly stopped by a latch door, leading directly underground. He walked directly by it and typed in an access code. The door let out a loud noise before sliding open. Maurice pulled me inside as he walked through it. It was so dark, I could barely see anything. My com link lenses had also drained out of power, which meant my sight was really bad. I felt a slight ting of discomfort build inside me—getting dragged inside an enemy base was not something I was particularly fond of. I knew I had to find some way to escape. By now, Dalla and Rick had acquired the engine equipment and were possibly on their way back. That was if they had not run into unexpected trouble. We finally came to this grand, big door, far to the right, at the end of the tunnel. It was red, blue, and very bright like it was reflecting an invincible sun. As I lay there, floating in the air, I pondered to myself, wondering what was on the other side of the metal door. Was it more enemies or terror beasts? Maybe, it was a clinic or the kitchen. Well, to be honest, I hoped it was both. The mind blowing sensation of starvation and pain was just too much to overcome. I desperately longed to have some fresh food going down my throat alongside pain easing therapy capsules.

"Ow! Ow!"

I had involuntarily pulled a muscle on my neck, which made the chronic pain more aggravating. For a second, it felt like my entire body went numb. The more I tried to fight it off, the more excruciating it got.

"I will leave you in here, the nurse will take care of you," Maurice said, leaving the gravity lift lying on the floor.

He paced his way out of sight, hurrying up the corridor. My mind was in agonizing pain, but I could still tell what was going on. Just what nurse was he talking about? Everything was quiet all around me. I was lying in front of the big door and I started freaking out of my mind. Trapped in enemy territory, I didn't know what to expect or what was going to come at me from any direction. Suddenly, the big door opened up slowly, with a screeching noise. I wanted to close my ears to stop the screeching from aggravating my pain, but I couldn't. Once it opened all the way, a reverting darkness loomed all around me. There was a chilling frightening sensation coming from the room. Someone or something was stalking me, hidden within the dark. I suddenly caught sound of footsteps approaching from the room. My heart paced a little bit as I was spooked. I tilted my head up to see who or what approached me. Shockingly, I saw no one. Although, I knew someone was there. The footsteps got louder and louder, drawing closer. My conscious screamed out towards me to flee. Whatever approached me was probably not friendly.

"This is a surprise, indeed," a cold voice spoke, and suddenly, a woman appeared out of the dark.

She had a gray tone to her skin just like the others, but scars on her arms, like a giant needle had been used to saw back her arms. Her persona was entirely chilling and weird. She carried herself like a lady, walking with confidence in her steps. However, something about her eyes though was out of character.

"It's not every day I see a rare specimen like you," she commented, lingering closer to observe me. She came so close to me, that I could clearly see the glimmer in her purple-like eyes as clear as daylight. Her breath smelt of lavender cinnamon and chocolate. Yep, she was just too close for personal comfort.

"On second thought, I am feeling better now," I panicked and tried to move away. I don't think I wanted her to treat my wounds.

"What's the matter?" she poked me on an exposed part of my chest armor.

I screamed out in pain, making a loud noise that echoed throughout the entire complex. My whole body reacted to the pain through impulsive shivers.

"Are you sure?" she asked again, with a faint smile of her lips, looking at me with such curious, sinister eyes.

Now, I was really positive I didn't want her operating on me at all. I didn't like pain. She took control of the gravity lift Maurice had left on the ground and pulled me into the dark room. Crap, was this really happening? It felt like one of those scary scenes from horror movies where you expected something bad to happen and it usually did. The door closed behind us without being touched, completely startling me. Giant bright lights came on and illuminated directly into my eyes, making me almost blind.

"I am anxious to dissect you and see how the human race has evolved over time," she spoke from somewhere in the room, like a phantom.

What! Did she say dissect? Perhaps my ears were deceiving me. I was hoping I had misheard her—because that was scary.

"Come again, please? I didn't hear what you just said."

I heard a few more footsteps and suddenly she appeared, next to my right foot. Eyes sparkling like fluorescent stars and a smile as frightening like that of a terror beast. But to be precise, she was pretty when she smiled like that. There were a few scapulas hidden beneath her lab shirt and something that looked like a mini x-ray scanner tucked between them.

"I said, I want to dissect you and see how the human race has evolved over time."

Yeah, I definitely heard her right the first time, but it was just hard to process the information. Just what had I gotten myself into? I looked her straight in the face and realized how serious and twisted she was. There was no sense of deliberation or remorse in her eyes. This lady was too dangerous and I had to escape her immediately. One tiny problem, there was no way to escape at the moment. My only option was to try and convince her otherwise.

"Ha! Very funny indeed," I laughed, trying to make a joke out of the situation. Only thing was that she wasn't laughing at all.

"That wasn't a joke."

"Well, our bodies haven't changed from what you already know; we still have our organs and limbs in the same place as you guys. There is no need for you to dissect me, honest."

The thought of her dissecting me was not exactly how I intended my life to end. I liked my body with all my organs intact, thank you very much. She stood there, motionless, watching me for a couple of seconds without muttering a word. Suddenly, a fiery smile emerged on her face. She was brewing something terrible inside her psychopathic mind.

"Nah, there is something about you that is different from everyone else around here, and I am curious to know what it is."

She walked away and picked up what looked like a proton drill. The machine made a loud screeching noise that almost destroyed my eardrums. She came back towards me with the drill and looked straight into my eyes, with a large grin. Yeah, she definitely was seriously trying to dissect me, judging by her facial expression. You definitely didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. I watched her place the machine on my armor. She began drilling off the first shell cover on it. My heart pounced out painfully as fear rushed through me. This was not part of the agreement—the alien girl, from before, said her leader wanted to speak with me, she never mentioned dissection to me. I could have remembered something like that if she had. Well, this definitely was not the right way to start a conversation with someone, in my opinion.

Suddenly she stopped. "This armor is much harder than I thought. I might need something bigger and stronger to remove it."

Phew, I was safe for a few more seconds. There was a giant puddle of sweat on my forehead. It was falling into my eyes and making them sting terribly. The situation was becoming troublesome and I needed to come up with a plan to get out of here. My life was hanging on a whim that looked like it could fall at any second from now, only making things a little rough.

"Relax, this will only hurt a little and then it will be over," she came back, holding what looked like a metal disrupter.

Was she joking? How could I possibly relax when someone was about to cut my chest open? If anything, I was far from relaxed. On no, I was slightly sure I just wet my boxers out of fear. Darn, it was my only pair so I really hoped it was just a lot of sweat or something. I closed my eyes as I felt her bring the machine closer towards my chest. My mind shattered from all the thoughts surging through it at that time period. Suddenly, the big door opened again, before she could begin her attempt again. Someone walked in slowly and stopped halfway.

"Stop teasing him, Ariya," the person spoke and came into the light.

She was a vibrant angel and she reminded me of someone. It was right at the tip of my tongue, but I just couldn't remember who. Well, I was safe for the moment and that was all that mattered. I rolled my head back to get a better glimpse of her. She was rather beautiful for an alien. Up close, I realized it was her voice that had stopped the terror beast from killing me. I thought I recognized her voice from somewhere else, but now, I wasn't sure anymore. Wait a minute; the more I looked at her, the more I realized who she reminded me of. The model girl from that Aliases hologram magazine issue #67—well, excluding the gray skin. This brought back some teen memories. I used to be a fan of those magazines when I was in my teenage years—those were indeed the wonder years.

"Control yourself, Den," I thought to myself and took a breath, trying to imagine Rose.

How strange, every memory of her seemed to come up blank, for some unknown reason. What was going on in my head? Perhaps not seeing her in four years was causing a memory lapse inside my brain. Or, conceivably, it had something to do with this new attractive stranger in front of me.

"So you are the boy my sister brought home, you caused quite a commotion," she said gently; it sounded almost rude, and yet, soothing.

"Darn, I am not a boy, I am a man," I growled at her.

I was very sensitive when it came to that. I don't know why, but ever since I turned 21, I wanted people to refer to me as a man, instead of boy. I think it was linked to the way my parents treated me. I wanted freedom and respect from them more than anything else, since I had come of age. The last thing I wanted was them interfering with my life dreams any more than they had. It was definitely something along those lines. The new stranger paced closer to me and looked directly into my eyes. She was standing a few inches away from the cold crazy nurse without saying anything.

"It seemed this one has got quite the temper on him," the nurse, with metal disrupter, interrupted and turned on the machine.

"Stop teasing him, Ariya, I have some questions I need him to answer," the woman commanded, banging her fist on the table.

The whole room shook for a minute. It felt like everything was going to break at once. The cold nurse did not back away at all—she looked excited more than fearful.

"Oh come on, Kristin," she replied, moving even closer. "Don't be like that."

The tension in the room was rising really fast. I could tell that there was some bad history between them. But what did that mean for me? All this commotion and excitement was really starting to rub me the wrong way. My heart could not take any more of this abuse.

"You never let me have any more fun with the patients," the crazy nurse spoke in a whiny voice.

"Well, if you stopped trying to kill them all the time, then I would," Kristin replied back, folding her arms.

"I was just playing around," Ariya spoke and tapped my helmet a few times, "look at him: he is having a blast."

Define blast? Honestly, I had no idea what she was talking about. Her sense of humor was really messed up.

"This one is special and I can't let you do what you want with him," Kristin looked at her angrily. "He has some vital information and I need him alive."

As soon as she was done speaking, Ariya walked up to me and said, "this is your lucky day."

She tapped my helmet again and left the room, in a slow and confident manor. Finally, I was alone with their leader and a few questions popped into my mind. However, a feeling of danger crept in. My life depended on the questions and answers I could provide her, which was not really a lot. I was under orders not to say anything to the enemy, and right now, she qualified as a major threat to me. Could I risk my life and stay quiet the whole time? She took something from her pockets and placed it out in the open. It looked like a syringe with an unknown chemical inside it. I felt uncomfortable as she brought it close to me and injected it into the exposed part on my arm. The needle pierced deeply into my veins, sending a jolting sensation throughout my body. My body vibrated and felt really weird.

"I want you to tell me everything you know," she said, staring at me with those mesmerizing eyes.

I was caught in the gaze of her enchanting eyes before I knew it. How could I possibly say no to her now? Oh wait! What was I thinking all of a sudden? Something was wrong with me. Before I knew it, I opened my mouth and told her everything, from my own history all the way to the secret mission. I just couldn't stop myself from blurting out everything I knew, even the most embarrassing things about myself.

"Okay, this is awkward," she said, with a facial expression filled with surprise and shock. "I really just wanted to know why you were here, but you gave me a mouth full and it only took you ten minutes. It seems the dosage I gave you was too much."

"You injected me with some sort of truth serum, didn't you?"

"Yes, I am sorry," she replied and shifted her body to the left. "It was the only way to know if you were a friend or foe."

"So, am I a friend or a foe?" I asked her.

"You are our ally for now," she responded, gazing straight into my eyes. "We share the same goals and enemies."

"Okay, now that you know about me, tell me something about yourself." I asked her, blushing without any signs of doubt in my voice. It was the truth serum making me divulge everything I was thinking out loud. The chemical was impairing my judgment and higher cognitive function.

"I'm starting to see why Rose left you," she commented, shaking her head at me.

Okay, that was a low blow and I had no idea what she meant by that at all. Bringing Rose into this conversation was definitely something I didn't see coming.

"I will tell you one thing," her facial expression changed all of a sudden without warning. "Earth is in grave danger and we need to act now."

What was she trying to tell me? Her words were like a hologram puzzle with missing pieces. As far as I could tell, every living organism on earth was in jeopardy of extinction. The terror beasts attacked everything without prejudice. When they attacked, usually nothing survived that fatal encounter.

"What are you trying to say?" I responded rudely, my eyes widening with fear. "You are hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"You don't understand," she cut me off completely, in a cold tone. "A lot of things are going on and it's complicated. The truth is more frightening than you think."

Was she trying to scare me? Well, it was working because my heart was racing so much—it felt like it was going to explode. I really think I was going to die of a heart attack one of these days, I could feel it. But, still, whatever she meant was definitely serious. If this was true, then we were in for a big wake up call. This planet was definitely linked to the terror beast invasion on earth. But how were they getting to our planet? I looked at her indirectly; she had the final piece I needed to finish this puzzling mystery.

"What do you know?"

I no longer felt any fear in asking her any question relating to my mission.

"The truth is stranger than fiction. You wouldn't believe me, even if I explained it to you, so get better and find out for yourself," she replied and typed in something on the table monitor.

"Are you serious? Why are you people hiding information from me?" I rattled and fell silent from pain. The ache in my body was agonizing. The more angry and emotional I got, the less bearable it was.

"This room is composed of healing light," she changed the subject on me. "You will get the answers you seek in time. In the mean time, remain calm and try not to move as much for the next six hours, while your body heals."

I didn't reply since I didn't have the strength to talk anymore. I lowered my breathing to remain calm and at ease. I watched her move slightly away from me, like she was about to leave. Strangely, I felt better for some reason. The light soothing into my pores was healing me slowly.

"By the way, you failed our test," she walked towards the door, unhurriedly. I could hear her every footstep.

"How did I fail?"

"Just know that it's a good thing," she glanced back one last time and left. "If you had passed, we would have killed you in that instant."

Oh, it appeared the test was rigged from the start, and a good thing I didn't use my emergency revolvers to deal with the matter. Man, I hated this planet more and more with every passing second. I couldn't wait to get off this miserable rock. As I lay there trying to sleep, I thought about Ali and everyone else. He was probably worried sick. Knowing him, he saw this scenario playing out and had a backup plan. By now, Dalla and Rick had made it back with the equipment. Most likely, the ship had already left this planet.

Nah, they wouldn't do that to us now, would they? Everything seemed to have gotten out of hand so fast, like a speeding train with no brakes. This had gone beyond a simple recon mission into something far much larger than just an upscale invasion. Slowly, but surely, I began losing consciousness as I drifted into a deep sleep. Before I knew it, I was sound asleep—far away from the clutches of the cruel reality.

8

"Wake up," a rude voice yelled so loud it almost blew off my cochlea.

This person certainly could use a tooth brush with a lot of paste. No, better make it two toothbrushes. I could smell the stench of what smelled like alcohol, and it was strong enough to make my nostrils burn. I opened my eyes, halfheartedly, and got stung by a bright light. I shielded my eyes quickly and rolled out of bed. My body no longer felt painful and all the exhaustion I had felt before was gone. Something felt out of place. No way! My armor had somehow been removed from my body. I was wearing what looked like silk pajamas. Who could have done this? They had even changed my boxers without my approval, the nerve of some people! How could they invade my privacy like that? Still, it felt great to be able to touch my own flesh and bone.

"Come with me, Wet Pants," the man waved me towards him as he proceeded to exit the room.

What did he mean by "wet pants"? Oh crap, I really had wet myself. It was likely that everyone in this underground base knew about this secret. Just my luck, I was already the laughing stock of the enemy base on the first day. I felt embarrassed and a bit humiliated. However, I didn't let it get to me. My mission came first before anything else. The man made an abrupt cough, informing me that I was taking too long. He looked at me impatiently, while tapping his fingers closer to the hatch door. I got the message and followed behind him quickly. The hatch door closed behind me automatically while blinking slowly. We walked through the underground corridors and past a few sideways floors. Bizarrely, the corridors were empty of enemies—it was just too silent. Something about this place gave me the chills. I felt weird being here without any armor or weapons.

"Where is my armor?" I asked as I caught up to pace with the alien man who woke me up.

He looked so drunk like he had jumped into a lake of alcohol. He proceeded to burp out loudly; the stench reverting from his breath repulsed me back greatly. I paced a few feet back, but still following behind him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he snickered in a rude remark, glaring at me in the eye for a second.

The narrow corridor ended as we began to move across a thick metal plated hall, heading to another unknown section. Honesty, I was impressed with the architecture; the whole fortress was deep underground and very big. The amount of work and dedication that went into building this base was astounding. Surprisingly, the gravity was not affecting me in any way. The level of technological advancement on this planet was also impressive. Suddenly, my nose caught scent of a nice smell. It was coming from somewhere ahead of us, as it leaked from a vented door. It smelled like something good was cooking and I couldn't wait to eat because I was starving. I picked up pace and went in front, trudging towards that room as I couldn't wait any longer.

"Not yet," the drunk man pulled me back, by grabbing a hold of my arm. "There is someone who wants to see you first."

I really hoped it was important. Usually nothing came between me and my food, when I was hungry. But what was it with these people and trying to see me at the worst possible time? The smell was too strong as I could almost taste it on my lips. My taste buds and my stomach were mad at me as I stopped going towards that smell and followed the drunken man. I bore the hunger and took my mind off it. It was almost classical watching the drunk alien walk in front of me, with his booze in one hand. I don't know how, but he was still able to keep walking without falling. That much alcohol was enough to kill some people; however, he just owned it, like he had done this a thousand times over. He stopped instantaneously in front of a thick hatched door.

"After you, Wet Pants," he commented and opened the hatched door loudly.

I paused briefly in my steps; I had no idea what was inside that room. For all I knew, it could be a trap. There was also a possibility it was a party in my honor or sort. After all, Kristin had mentioned that I wasn't her enemy. Oh well, as long as they didn't call me wet pants. I really hated that name, the more I heard him say it. I stepped in, cautiously, and noticed that there were a few people sitting in high chairs, on what looked like a square table. The interior of the room was emerald green, covered with framed pictures of great battles. If my guess was right, it was their main conference room, based on how well the place was secured and built. I glared around and noticed all of their eyes turn towards me.

"Please sit down," one of them said, in a nice, warm voice.

There was a faint smile on his face combined with an expression of kindness. How could I possibly say no? I sat down and politely looked around the room to see who these people were. One of them was the woman I met before, Kristin, sitting in the seat directly opposite of mine. There were projectile-like files on the desk being displayed on a highly advance com screen. I caught a glimpse of her eyes and noticed an unbound will, the type of passion only portrayed by a true leader and great warrior.

"Like I said before," Kristin got up and walked across the room in a calm pace. "Now, I am going to show you what I meant by those words."

What was she talking about? I thought to myself for a second and remembered what we had talked about before, in that dark room. It took me a second, but it was now clear what she meant and all I could do was listen.

"The earth is going to be annihilated."

"No, Kristin, you mustn't," one of the men spoke out, trying to silence her. "We really don't know anything about this boy, and for all we know, he could be a spy."

Darn! There was that word again I hated so much. My anger swirled inside from at the mention of the word boy.

"I am not a boy, I am a man," I screamed out at him and jumped out of my chair.

I probably shouldn't have done that; nevertheless, it was necessary that they give me a bit of respect. I think it was the side effects of the truth serum still bearing down on me. The whole room fell silent as I could feel their eyes on me; their faces were plastered with surprise and fascination.

"See, like I said before," the alien man rattled, pointing at me in a rude way. "This boy or man is an idiot. No one in their right mind lashes out at his enemy right in their base."

He said boy again, I was a bit furious, but at the same time, he had also mentioned man which calmed me a bit. However, I wasn't an idiot. It was true—I lashed out, but it was just to mark my territory, and get some respect.

"It doesn't matter," Kristin said and walked up to me without any hesitation.

She patted me on the shoulders and said, "this boy is all we got, there isn't any other earthling we can find at the moment, so deal with it."

Did she just call me boy? Oh well! How could I possibly stay mad at her? I was kind of insulted, and also honored at the thought of being part of something this big. The destruction of earth was something I had to prevent at all cost. If I could become a hero, then Rose would have no choice, but to come back falling into my arms. That was if I find her, of course. I giggled and smiled to myself at the thought of it, and imagined my life afterwards.

"Are you sure we can trust this idiot?" another man commented in a very intimidating voice. "I mean, look at him, he is laughing to himself and giggling at nothing like a rabid dog."

I resented that remark from him. That being said, he was right—to others, I did look like a fool.

"So as I was saying," Kristin continued and walked directly to the com screen. "Your planet is in danger of being completely destroyed. The terror beasts coming to your planet were not some sort of natural disaster that befell your planet; rather, it was a staged event, an invasion decades in the making."

What! How could this be? I had imagined something like this to be the case, but I truly hoped I was wrong. I placed my hand on my face, unable to contemplate the new information I was receiving. The truth was definitely stranger than fiction. Part of me didn't want to believe anything she was saying to me. I looked into her eyes and saw no signs of deception in them; it seemed everything she was telling me was probably true. I wanted to question her words of choice; however, I chose not to at the last minute. I wasn't going to interrupt, since it appeared she was about to explain everything to me.

"There is a dark conspiracy that correlates the events happening on this planet to your planet, earth. Unless something is done, both this planet and earth are doomed for annihilation. We are part of the Resistance, sworn to free this planet from the hands of a maniac, who is responsible for all this."

Great! Just great, whenever disaster struck, there was always a power hungry maniac grabbing onto power. Questions remaining was why earth? What did the maniac have to gain by invading or destroying earth?

"Why does he want to destroy earth?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Okay, as you didn't know, the kingdom on this planet used to be called Ras. A great nation that fell into misfortune and was assumed destroyed centuries ago. Because of the advanced technology of our country, we were able to warp teleport the whole kingdom off earth and onto this planet. That was almost centuries ago, when we arrived here. We suffered terribly at the hands of the ruthless beasts inhabiting this planet; however, we overcame and found peace for almost 200 years. That all changed when one of the scientists went insane from tragedy and sadness, and took over the planet. Majority of the people on this planet fell under his control, and are in some kind of mind control hypnosis."

"Okay, stop," I cut her completely, pausing to process the information. "That was a little bit too much information for one day, I really need a drink."

"Are you sure you are old enough to drink, wet pants?" an older gentleman said and the whole room burst out laughing.

I blushed for a second and chuckled, trying not to show that I was furious at the moment. His joke didn't sound funny at all, but I said nothing. This was not the time to make friends or enemies. It seemed my natural sense for curiosity had led me to the truth. Sad to say: I couldn't handle it. This was way out of my pay rate. I scanned thoroughly across the room and noticed something interesting.

"I have been curious about one thing," I stared her in the eye, while adjusting my posture a little bit. "How come all of the inhabitants of this plant have gray melanin? It strikes as odd, since you said you used to be earthlings."

Kristin smirked lightly, "the planet's sun is different from the one on earth—and over the centuries, our bodies adapted to the new harsh environment, which mutated and rewrote our DNA. Most of our organs shifted and evolved in order to meet the demands required for survival on this planet."

"Oh ok."

Amazing! This was natural selection at its best. I wouldn't believe it unless I was seeing it right with my own eyes. I thought about all the limitless possibilities of research I could conduct on this planet. I was curious to see how different these former earthlings were from us, the current earthlings. For some unknown reason, they aged slower or were practically immortal. I looked around, carefully, and speculated my findings to be arguable. Just what was their secret to prolonged life? So many questions cramped up in my brain, as that was all I could think of.

"How are the terror beasts; I mean, creatures getting to our planet so easily," I asked her, finally starting to get serious. "There has to be a way to stop them, right?"

"The dimensional gate we used to get here is the same gate the maniac is using, to get the creatures back to earth," Kristin spoke with her hands folded. "It's possible to stop the creatures from coming to earth, but I can't guarantee it to work."

Now it all made sense to me. This explained why we never detected or saw the creatures appear until it was too late. No one could have guessed it was all due to a dimensional gate warp. We never assumed that to be a successful possibility. A decade ago, several scientists attempted to travel through dimensions and failed miserably. Their attempt caused a catastrophic disaster, which almost obliterated half a city. The laws that controlled dimensional travels were extremely risky and dangerous—one error in calculations could have dire consequences in nature and on the planetary axis. Due to that, the planetary government banned all research linked to this type of technology. The fact that this planet had that kind of technology was an extremely uncomfortable thought. In order to stop something like that, we needed extra man power, and a lot of firing power. Assuming there was a battalion of alien soldiers and horde of terror beasts between us and the gate. There was no other way; the gate had to be destroyed.

"How many times has this gate been used?" I sighed out of sheer anxiety.

"More than a dozen times, to be precise. As you can see, there are severe penalties to using this kind of technology. Our planet stopped rotating after the forth dimensional warp, which is why it is always day on this side of the planet."

"I don't want to point out the elephant in the room, but doesn't this child remind you of someone we once knew?" one of the men, on my left, spoke out, completely changing the subject.

He looked at me with eyes full of utter fascination. I felt their eyes piercing deeply towards me like they were checking me out. I was uneasy as I shifted my body away from the center table. I heard them seconds later murmur in an inside language I couldn't understand. It seemed, they had taken a sudden interest in me.

"Yes, he does," Kristin replied and patted my back lightly. "This is why this plan of ours will work. He will never see it coming."

"Brilliant, Kristin, you are definitely your father's daughter," another man commented and they all agreed with him.

I saw an opportunity and I seized it. Apparently, I held some sort of value to them. My life was no longer in danger—they were not my enemy, nevertheless, my allies. Meaning I could use them too and vice versa. If I was to destroy the gate, I had to get them to help me. But why did they come only to me? There was another motive to their agenda with me.

"You came to me personally and I want to know why."

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes, as they chatted amongst themselves on what to say next. All I could hear were grunting noises and a few nods as they came to an agreement. My body shivered at the thought of this situation going badly. I was pushing my luck by asking them questions rudely. At this point, I had to be careful about what to say next.

"Coincidentally, you are the only earthling we were able to peacefully contact. Our plan is to talk to your superiors and form an alliance. The only way to get rid of the terror beast problem on your planet is for you to work with us."

It was a tempting offer, but I felt like there was something more they were not telling me, something very important. I folded my arms for a minute and closed my eyes to think to myself on my next move. It was true, they had another use for me besides being the liaison. Their plan most likely involved me doing something vital and life-threatening. If I survived this, I was going to ask for a raise from the government. I opened my eyes again and noticed their heads turned towards the central hologram monitor.

"We don't have all day, you know?" another impatient older man in room yelled at me, and banged the table with his fist.

I don't know what his problem was; it really was not his choice to force me to join them. Carefully, I pondered to myself, rationalizing what my remaining options were. Unfortunately, I didn't have any left at the moment. Every choice I could make all boiled up to the same thing. Realizing that, I looked up and took a risky gamble.

"What happens if I say no?" I spoke, tucking my arms. I needed to know how desperately they needed my help.

"Are you sure you want to say no?" Kristin said and looked me in the eye without blinking.

I gulped and thought to myself for a second. My words of choice didn't seem to fool her at all. She knew what I was up to and wasn't going to fall into my lure.

"Fine, but I want you to give me back my armor and weapons," I said and got up to leave. "I will cooperate with you, just this one time."

As I left, I didn't look back. The door opened and closed behind me, automatically. The hallway was completely vacant and silent; everything seemed unfamiliar to me. I had no idea which direction I had come from. Great, I left trying to act cool, and now I was outside, not knowing where to go. Darn! If I went back inside, they would think I was an idiot. "Oh well!"

I decided to walk and figure out the place on my own. Eventually, I would stumble upon someone who would guide me back. I could smell an aroma in the air of food. It seemed I was going back in the right direction, towards the kitchen. My stomach rumbled with each step I took. I walked for a few minutes without seeing a single trace of alien people in the floor tunnels. It was strange and quite odd. Much was to be said about my new allies, they weren't much on trust; however, they were very powerful. A few questions still remained on my mind and I couldn't figure them out. What kind of alliance did they want to forge with my superiors? Why did they choose me? Was this a trap? As far as I was concerned, the mission was over. It was time to buckle up and prepare for a great storm. Stopping another terror beast invasion and destroying the dimensional warp gate was the most important thing to me. Suddenly, I smelled the sweet aroma of food again, and I dashed towards it without hesitation. I skidded past the corner and threw myself at the metal hatch between me and the food. My mind had turned completely blank as food was all I could think of. I opened the hatch door without knocking and went inside. There was a bright glare of light, as I found myself at the center of a big room full of alien people. They stopped eating and turned all of their attention towards me completely. It felt like I was some stranger from another planet. Oh wait, I was a stranger from another planet to these guys, so this reaction was to be expected. Everyone went silent, without a warning. This much attention was too much for me. I was a bit shy, so I looked down and made my way to the source of all the food. Whoa! Even on this planet, I was surprised to see that they also had service drones that prepared food.

"What would you like to eat?" the drone asked and showed me a list of everything on the menu. As expected, there wasn't anything I was accustomed to on earth, which sort of upset me. However, I was hungry and I needed to eat something. I scanned through the menu and didn't find anything exactly appetizing. The sensation I felt from their alien eyes was rather maddening. Quickly, I ordered randomly and waited while my food was being prepared. I heard them start to whisper silently amongst themselves about me. It was so uncomfortable and yet annoying that I just wanted to lash out and tell them to stop it. The robot made a beeping noise, alerting that my food was ready. I picked up the food and walked towards the vacant table, at the left corner. As I sat down to eat, I could still hear them talk and laugh at my expense.

"How unusual it is to find a true earthling, in here," a voice said and I noticed a man sitting beside me. "What are you doing here, so far from home?"

I chewed my food hard. "Good question. If I knew, you would be the first to know."

The food was a bit unusual, to say the least, and almost tasted like vomit mixed with sugar. It left an after crunch feeling in my mouth that made my taste buds all wobbly.

"Ah! Havoc beast vomit is a good choice, it is a delicacy in this part of the planet," he said and ate his food.

Wait, I stopped chewing and looked at him. He looked serious and rather captivated with me. Did he say havoc beast vomit? No wonder it tasted terrible. I felt like throwing up at the moment.

"What is this?" I spat out the food completely. "Is this some sort of joke?"

He looked at me strange and laughed, "Oh, so you didn't know? What you are eating was taken from the vomit of havoc beasts. It's quite good, just takes a lot of getting used to, that's all. By the way, I wouldn't vomit if I was you; on this planet, we consider that to be rude."

Really, I wouldn't have guessed that at all from first glance. There was so much about this planet I really hated. I felt like throwing up, although, I held it in and puked a lit bit in my mouth. It was so hard to act natural with all the eyes in the room, staring directly at me, with no breaks in between.

"Do you always give your guests this much attention?" I chuckled, feeling annoyed by the unwanted stares.

The alien stranger, next to me, sighed and took out a device that looked like sync locker machine, "no, just to those we have never seen before, especially earthlings. It's been a while since I last saw earth. I would like to ask you how things have been, but there is no time. Kristin already told you what is happening right now, so I will cut right to the chase. We are going to the kingdom of Ras soon—go grab your gear and be ready to move out."

"Wait, what!"

Was he for real? He quickly stood up and left in a hurry, leaving me clueless at to what we were exactly doing. I slowly rinsed my mouth with what appeared to be water and sighed completely. And so it begins. My future was going to be determined within the next few hours. Honestly, not exactly how I expected things to play out. I wanted to learn the truth, but not like this. I was no longer sure if I still wanted my questions answered. What am I thinking? Time was of the essence. Courageously, I closed my eyes and ate the remaining terror beast vomit, in order to restore my energy. It was a terrible choice, but necessary, nonetheless. I got up and jolted out of the compartment without the slightest moment of delay. I stopped again, completely confused—I had no idea where I was. The floors all looked the same; this underground fortress was almost similar to a labyrinth. Left or right! Which way? I didn't want to get lost, but time was not on my side—and I had to go retrieve my armor.

"Come with me," someone whispered, grabbing a hold of my hand and leading me somewhere.

It was a child, and by the looks of it, the boy I had stunned half dead. His grip was strong and heavy like he wanted to crush my hand. I just hoped he held no grudges against me. But where was he taking me?

"Where are we going?" I stopped moving.

"Look," he replied quickly, looking back at me with such knife-like eyes; it was like he could see right through me. "My sister told me to take you to your armor. I personally don't like you and think it's a bad idea to work with you, but I will listen to my sister, for now. Screw up and I will personally take you out."

Good to know, I guess making mistakes was also out of the option. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing. What was my role in this new operation? The boy led me to this room where their entire armory was. My eyes wondered in every direction, filled with utter fascination. Such remarkable technology was way beyond belief. I had never set my eyes on such well, crafted weapons before. No wonder the world saw Ras as a threat. High level weapons like these were classified as contraband, and anyone seen with this stuff, would probably be jailed. Well, that was on earth, of course. On this planet, those rules didn't apply. I shifted away from the boy and slid far more into the armory for a better view. I looked left and right, absolutely excited beyond belief. Carelessly, I took one gun and examined it up close—it was light and smooth and ran on some sort of external energy source. I unclipped the cartridge to examine the bullets carefully. Unexpectedly, they were made of an unknown fiber metal. The residue inside the bullets was almost a clear crystalloid liquid. What could it be? A tinge in my neck told me to put it back. I listened to that feeling and placed the gun by the metal table. These weapons were too valuable, and too dangerous to be messed around with. In the wrong hands, a whole city, perhaps, even an entire country could be destroyed within mere weeks. I couldn't let that happen. If opportunity presented itself, I was going to destroy this whole base. My new allies didn't seem to be trustworthy. They had another exterior motive behind their words of alliance.

"Get what you need and get out," the boy commanded and leaned against the door, watching me.

"Someone is a little bit grouchy today," I said, joking around lightly. "What's the matter? Didn't get enough sleep? Did someone take your whittle toy?"

The expression in his eyes changed, I could tell he was getting angry with me and I needed to stop. Before things could get out of hand, his sister walked into the compartment and said nothing. There was a gauche silence for a couple of minutes as none of us had any friendly words to say to one another. Oh well, I just couldn't keep my big mouth quiet for that long.

"I see your brother is doing really well. Who knew we would meet again so soon?"

"It's no thanks to you," she replied and picked out a few things from the armory before leaving. Wow, the tension was already building up. I really felt like we were not going to get along at all.

"You have less than two hours, Earthling," she whispered before the door shut off.

What did she mean by two hours? Was she talking about the mission? That was barely enough time to prepare mentally and physically. I was already unaware of what my objective was, and why I was even helping them. My mind had not yet wrapped around the idea of what was happening before me.

"So, are you also going, too?" my gaze turned towards the little boy, who was still watching me, leaning on the wall.

"Don't be stupid," he replied rudely and closed his eyes. He tilted his head against the wall and folded his arms perfectly. "Everyone is going and we will be watching your every move to make sure you don't betray us."

Again, good to know! At least someone was going to be watching my back, although not in the same way I would like. I guess one can't have everything in life. I placed my arms up and let out a brief yawn. It was possible I had a good nights sleep; none of my muscles ached at all. I had no idea what time or day it was, but one thing was certain: time was not my friend. Quickly, I picked up my armor, which seemed to have been repaired and remodeled again, and began putting it on. It took me about fifty minutes to suit up and pick up suitable weapons from the armory. The whole time, the boy kept a close eye on me, like I was a thief, hoping I would screw up and do something stupid. His glaring eyes sort of freaked me out and felt rather uncomforting. They were the eyes of an avenger, eyes of someone bent on revenge. He looked like he wanted payback on someone. Oh yeah, me. After what I did to him, to save Rick, I wouldn't blame him. Speaking of Rick, I wondered where he was, and whether he had managed to regroup with his sister. By now, they were back at the main ship, and were probably sipping drinks with Ali or fighting each other. Man, I wished I was with them right now. Being amongst these aliens/Rasians was rather aggravating and downright frightening. I just hoped Rick and the others wouldn't consider leaving without me. The thought of being stuck of this planet with these guys was utterly unbearable. I hated to think about it; however, the odds of it happening were far greater than I would like. I put the matter aside to concentrate on the most important task at hand—stopping another dimensional warp!

I rebooted my armor's control to my personal preference and recalibrated the power to maximum output. It felt different and much smoother. These guys had done superb work on it. What great allies! They even added some more modifications to it and I couldn't wait to test them out. Perhaps, later, I would bake them a hot cake or something. Well, that was if I survived long enough. I don't know how they managed to take it off me before, but I wasn't complaining. The nuclear core that once fueled the suit had been replaced and substituted with another unknown source of power. It was strange and yet exhilarating. I practiced my movements in the armor, testing out all of my new abilities and internal time limits. The boy stopped me and signaled me that it was time to leave. We walked through the long, narrow floors for what seemed like half an hour. Suddenly, an alarm came on; and it was so loud, the walls were trampling. I raised my arms and closed my ears to drown out the sound. Something strange was about to happen. Was this the final signal for their mission? It appeared that way, because many people began to storm through the halls, running in one direction. They were geared up with pseudo battle armor and weapons like they were going to war. What had I gotten myself into this time? I had a hunch this wasn't going to end well for me.

"The first phase of the mission will begin now," a voice spoke from a loud speaker—from somewhere I couldn't tell. "Commence with the first phase of Operation Uprise."

Crap, I still didn't even know what the assignment or my role was. Just what was I supposed to do or go? Oh well, it didn't matter to be exact. My agenda for joining them was not exactly to destroy the dimensional gate. The real objective was to find my captured crew and escape this horrible planet. I had no intention of getting caught in an alien civil war—no sense in getting myself killed over someone else's fight. What am I saying? There was chaos inside my heart as I tried to figure out what I really wanted to do. I mean, if I helped them, I could stop the terror beasts' invasion on earth and save a lot of people. But what if they were making this up? Darn! I really wished I knew what to do, or someone tell me the right choice.

"Let's go, Wet Pants," a familiar voice said; it was the girl who captured me in the forest. "My sister has given us a special mission and it is very important we leave now."

"What is the mission?" I turned my head towards her, whilst readjusting my lens.

"You don't need to know yet," she replied and bolted after the others.

Bummer! At least I gave it a shot. It seems, these guys weren't going to tell me anything any time soon. I sighed and followed behind, in the same direction. A whole legion of men and women alien warriors rushed left towards a hatch exit. I didn't follow as I went right, with the girl. What she said bothered me more than anything. I was getting anxious and worried at the same time. Everything she said felt like a load of rubbish and there was something fishy about all of this. I could bet a nickel these guys were playing with me. A secret mission, yeah right! Soon, I began to see the outside again; it was a gentle blue and brown color, filled with debris and ash. I could smell the ash and the strong scent of melting metal coming from every direction. For a bunch of rebels trying to keep a low profile, they sure hadn't done a lot to conceal this mess.

"Come with me," the girl dashed towards the small carrier ship and jumped in.

I boarded the ship and it took off quickly, a few seconds after. Things were starting to play out slightly out of my control. I had no idea where I was going, only a matter of time before I found myself in a bottle of hot lava. Hope not! Hope not! Think positive!

"Listen carefully," she began, showing me a com link map of the kingdom through a visor. "We are the ace line of attack, the entire squadron in here is going to infiltrate the kingdom and take down their defenses from the inside."

Wait what? That sounded like the most stupid plan I had ever heard—and that's coming from someone who had experience with making stupid decisions. Were they trying to throw their lives away? From what I could tell, this kingdom was way too advanced and it would take an entire army to take them down. No! I could say it was impossible, even with an army of skilled soldiers: definitely suicide. Just what were these fools thinking? Putting their lives in danger so carelessly and then having the nerve to bring me into this mess.

"No way, if you think I'm crazy enough to walk into a trap, then forget it," I said and folded my arms, closing my eyes.

I felt the smell of metal, directly on my nostrils, and opened my eyes, in time to see a barrel of guns pointed on my face by everyone on the ship. There was a serious expression on all their faces. They were not playing around. Apparently, I had no choice and mutiny was not tolerated.

"Okay, that is convincing enough," I gulped, putting my hands up.

Just how did I keep getting myself into these situations? The ship shook violently like it was hitting some major turbulence and knocked me off my seat. I slowly got up and shook my head, while stretching my aching back. A small beeping noise erupted constantly through the screen. We were hitting some major turbulence as the air currency worked against us. Something like this only occurred if there was a severe weather storm, hurricane or tornado. But it was impossible on this planet, unless we were not traveling above ground. So, this was their plan? Infiltrating the kingdom from below, using a special assault mobile ship—it was brilliant and yet flawed. An attack from below was something an opponent always considered, when building their fortress. Meaning we were speeding directly into a trap.

"We are getting close to the first checkpoint," one of them said and I quickly hopped in back into my seat, strapping in hard.

For some reason, the ship was not slowing down; instead, it was speeding up and going even faster than before.

"Why are we not stopping?" I asked, holding on tightly to my seat.

This was starting to get dangerous. I honestly thought being a space biologist would keep me away from assignments like these; but, apparently, I was mistaken. Life was just unpredictable and funny like that. The ship shook violently, causing my heartbeat to sky rocket. Calm down! Calm down! The last thing I wanted was another panic attack.

"You might want to hold on even tighter," an alien woman I had never talked to said, clutching her gun firmly.

I honestly did not see the reason for her to smile; however, I kept my comments to myself. The less people I angered, the better it was for me in the long run.

"Entering the first grid line, it might get a little bit bumpy but it's all good."

The intensity kept rising with each second. One small mishap and that would be the end of us. The ship's controls went haywire from some sort of electromagnetic pulse interference. Undoubtedly, the enemy's first line of defense against underground threats. So I was right, it appeared as if we were trying to break through a pulse shield generator: a rather brave and stupid attempt on our part. During the last Great War, countries used these devices to fortify their defenses to ensure nothing would get in or get out. Anything inside the shield was destroyed and reduced to ash within a matter of seconds, which I could say was not good for us.

"I don't suppose you have a plan to get us out of this mess?" I asked, barely able to hold onto my stomach contents. All this vibrations and sudden loss of control rotations were giving my stomach a really bad ache.

"This is the plan," the girl commented, forcing a smile at me. "Just sit tight for a few seconds and try not to die."

Well! I could try, but it was going to be tough to recover from this, especially on my heart. "Speed it up to 100000 meks," the girl said, talking to one of the pilots. "We should be able to escape this shield with minimum damage."

Minimum damage, really? Was she out of her mind? Getting our organs rearranged or being disintegrated into small molecules was definitely not minimal damage. Strangely, it started getting a little bit hot and misty inside. Crap, the ship was falling apart terribly. This was not happening, was it? No! No! No! Not exactly how I pictured my life ending. Times like these make me wish I had listened to my father. Being a doctor would have saved me from going through this entire ordeal. What am I thinking? I caught up with reality and thrust my head around quickly. It was a matter of seconds before this entire ship was blown up, along with us in it. I am positive these guys had a plan or something to get us out of this dilemma. And I just hoped they would initiate it immediately before my heart gave out.

"More torque on the thrusters," she commanded on the top of her voice, without any sign of panic in her voice.

From my point of view, this wasn't their first time doing something this drastic and lived to tell about it. They knew what they were doing, and had probably prepared for this situation several times over. I looked around and felt a calm breeze, coming from all of them except from me. I was panicking and wanting to get out of this ship and back to earth. This whole scene was not in the job description that I had signed up for. I knew that for a fact; I had read over the contract a thousand times over. Pretty sure, I had not missed out on something this life changing. I felt the ship's velocity increase, drastically, without delay—this was bad. The ship wasn't in the best shape to pick up more speed. A drastic combination of increased velocity, plus uncontrolled steering motion was very dangerous. These fools were out of their minds. Oh no! My stomach whirled badly. I couldn't hold it in anymore as I puked inside my helmet everything I had eaten before. Gross! Gross! Gross! My helmet visor was dirty with puke stains and I could barely see anything in front of me.

"Now that's just gross, Wet Pants," I heard a voice say, but didn't know who said it.

I quickly took it off and wiped some of the puke from my face, in order to see what was going on. By far, this was the grossest thing to happen to me. I would die before I ever told anyone about this. I heard a loud bang and suddenly the ship spun out of control a few times and stopped completely. Every control system came to a dead silence. I listened to the silent echo as I groaned out in pain. Definitely not how I imagined my day playing out. I felt no movements from the others. Were they still alive? The whole thing happened so fast that I didn't know what had occurred, and whether we had succeeded through or not. Well, I was still alive, so that meant I had survived. Some miracle! It was only a matter of time before my good fortune ran out. I felt disoriented and sick to my stomach like I had eaten something terrible. I wanted to vomit, but apparently, I had already puked out everything, a few seconds ago, making me feel more miserable.

"Is everyone okay?" I heard a voice ask; it belonged to one of the pilots.

"My leg is hurt, but I will live," another man replied and suddenly it was quiet.

There was a loud noise as something was breaking through the hull of ship. It sounded like some sort of metal disrupting drill. There was a musty smoke simmering in through the ventilation system. It was too dark to see where it was coming from. If I had to guess, I would say it was coming from the synched metal hulls on the external part of the ship.

"Is Cathy okay?" another voice echoed.

No one answered. I heard a loud racket as if something was being moved out of the way. My breathing was starting to become shallow and hoarse. I coughed for a minute and placed my hand in front of my nose and mouth. Staying still in here was becoming dangerous. Every ounce of the thick noxious air was oozing through and threatening to suffocate me to death. To make it even direr, it was getting hot and uncomfortable really fast. I had to get out of here. Quickly, I put on my helmet and swallowed a large amount of clean air, mixed with a scent of puke.

"I'm still alive," I heard a feminine voice speak and I quickly realized who it was.

I really didn't know whether I should be happy that she was alive or disappointed. Maybe a bit of both! Harshly, I pulled myself out of the broken seat and crawled towards the clutches of freedom. I saw a beacon of outside light and followed it out to freedom. Once I was out, I stood up and sighed out heavily. How did I keep getting myself into these situations? My doctor had warned me to stay out of harm's way to prevent my panic attacks. Sadly to say: trouble seemed to find me first. In front of me, the other guys stood with their gear in check and their eyes scanning around us. We appeared to be in some sort of tunnel, a few feet away from this giant force field gate. Now one thing stood between us and the kingdom. It was a great, two piece sort of gate that emitted unknown energy, at every five second intervals. Way too dangerous to touch, let alone penetrate through it. We were stuck with no way in or out. I looked at my allies and still felt a calming sensation amongst them, like they were still in control. One of them looked towards me and smiled confidently, moving a few steps ahead. These guys were definitely not amateurs. On second thought, perhaps, surviving through the force field generator was no mere fluke or spirit of luck.

"The fortifications and the platinum welding we did on this ship really paid off," a guy, barely my age, spoke, observing the melted hull of the ship. He placed his right hand on the ship and quickly retracted it back, once he felt how hot it was. Idiot!

So that was it. Heavy modifications on the ship had definitely saved us from certain death. Whatever they were fighting for had to be worth the struggle and sacrifice. I felt out of place, because I lacked their resolve and confidence. This was just not my area of expertise. I was a scientist and not a soldier. If it wasn't for the terror beast invasion, I would have never touched a gun ever. But this was reality and it was cruel. I held my gun tightly and concentrated on the task at hand.

"Initiating phase two," the girl, or Cathy as they called her, said and everyone began to move. "You all know what to do."

Everyone except me rechecked their gear and quickly moved forward without fear. They marched in a uniform pace and stopped, inches from the gate, looking up. I felt a tingling feeling in my stomach, telling me that this was a bad idea. My high cognitive ability had never let me down before, but this time, I had no choice. There was no way to flee—only one way forward.

"Can you hack the door, Jan?" Cathy turned towards a scruffy guy, who looked out of place.

He wore mini metallic pads on his elbows and knees. Unnoticed to everyone, I detected a slight shiver of fear from his body. His eyes, however, looked determined and ready to prove something to himself, and to everyone. I glanced at him for a couple of seconds and looked away slowly. Compared to the others, he looked like he was not a warrior, more like a scouter or technical support.

I stepped forward and tilted my head for a closer look. The access pad, near the gate, needed some sort of password or key to be opened. It was a trick pad, one wrong code and the alarm would sound off. Meaning there was a trap probably set to go off once that happened. These guys were way over their heads on this one. Obviously, the enemy was very smart and well aware of their plans. I had to get out of here—no sense in me risking my life on a suicide mission like this. Someone stepped gently next to me, on one knee, near the pad. It was Jan. He pulled out and attached some sort of cord from his helmet and began doing something weird. Symbols and numbers were displayed on his screen like a gigon code.

"Maybe, but it will take time," Jan said as he tried to access the door's control.

Slowly, I moved back and went to examine my gear. I had to do something to keep my mind busy. Everything looked great for all I could see, and I had enough weapons to bring down a whole block of buildings.

"There, I got it," Jan said, with excitement in his voice.

The gate vibrated and slowly opened up. It was an amazing spectacle to behold; the level of ingenuity that went into its creation was extraordinary. We quickly stepped back to get out of the way.

"We are still on time," Cathy said, checking her timer. She quickly grabbed her equipment and went ahead through the door. "The second phase of the mission is complete, but now comes the hard part."

What did she mean by that? In my opinion, this was the hard part. Or at least, I was hoping this was the difficult part. I felt a jolt of hesitation pull me back a little. How much more difficult did they expect this to get? Note to self again: ask for a raise. This had to be considered over time. I mean, I was doing more than what I was paid for. As evidence, my com lenses recorded everything while reading and deciphering codes belonging to the enemy. I had an important secondary task of getting this information to the government. For all I know, this information would prove useful against the terror beasts still on earth. I stopped moving and remained motionless for a bit. While everyone was occupied, I retried my com signal to send the new intel to Ali and the others. But it kept saying, "Static jam interference. No signal!"

An incredible powerful device, probably, an electronic transmitter was near and causing this noise. I had no way to contact Rick or Dalla. If I didn't make it, I had to find some way to pass on this new knowledge. Doubt the new allies would do me that favor. For all I knew, they were probably going to backstab me once they were done with me. On the other hand, I could be wrong. Allying with these aliens played to my advantage, since I was pretty much alone without crewmates to back me up. Plus, their knowledge and manpower was more than I could hope for against the terror beasts, and the maniac controlling them. A loud thump woke me up to reality. We had finally made it into the alien fortress (kingdom of Ras). This was possibly where the rest of my crew was being held. The fortress was as big as a country, and would take at least three weeks to look through it. It was a hustle, but I was a desperate man. At the moment, I couldn't leave just yet. I needed these guys to lead me away from the booby traps, possibly, scattered across this underground passage. I planned on staying with them for a while—well, until I found some way to escape safely. I was determined to find my crew and leave this miserable rock.

The ledges on the wall echoed to our steps. It was dark and gloomy, showing no signs of life. It was nerve wrecking. I tilted my head in every direction, constantly listening for anything out of the ordinary. Everything was going according to plan, but it was just a matter of time before something went wrong. I mean, I wasn't hoping something would go wrong, although I had to consider the possibility of something going out of line.

"Switch to infrared, everyone, we are going in dark," Cathy said as she led us through the corridor. "We can't let anyone see us; otherwise, all our efforts will be for nothing."

Just what was this mission we were supposed to do? I knew absolutely nothing except for the fact that I had almost died again. We all switched our flash lights off and walked stealth fully in the dark. No one spoke, it was all hand signals till we reached our objective. I noticed something very peculiar and began to worry. Strangely as it seemed, this place was not guarded, not even one spy drone was mounted on the wall. It felt like the enemy wanted us to come to them. Or possibly, they didn't expect anyone to make it through their shield in one piece. I could only hope Cathy knew where she was going; otherwise, we were walking directly into our own doom. "Stop, everyone!" Cathy whispered and raised her hand, to signal us not to move.

Something was coming towards us; it looked like a robot or some sort of monster with bladed wings. Was it a terror beast? Nah! It looked way too big to be a terror beast and also its eyes were glowing way too bright in a yellow color. Could it see us? It looked like it was coming directly straight towards us. I got a little nervous and gripped my gun firmly. I don't know when I had taken it from its strap, but all I knew was, it was in my hand and loaded. The safety was off and any sudden movement could result in a discharge of a bullet. I still couldn't make out who or what it was exactly. However, one thing was clear, it was not here to make friends. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, with their weapons pointed directly at it. One sudden movement and this monster would detect and destroy us. The creature moved away, it didn't seem to pick us up at all. Was it just luck?

No, I noticed Cathy holding some sort of device at the monster. It was possible this machine was disrupting this monster's vision, in some sort of way, making it unable to see us. I watched the beast move away and disappear in another corridor, leaving us to continue our mission.

"This is just too much," I sighed to myself.

I put away my gun and begun to follow after Cathy and the others. The corridors forked away into different direction. Cathy held a map, allowing us to navigate our way through the treacherous tunnels. We all stopped as we came into contact with another door. It was a little bit smaller than the gate and, of course, requiring an access card or key. Jan walked towards it and did the same thing he did with the gate to get it open. It took a few minutes to open the door and access the controls of the building.

"Okay, everyone, you know what to do, right?" Jan asked, and everyone else nodded, except for me.

"Just what are we doing?" I asked, confused and curious as to what was the mission plan.

Cathy looked at me and said, "Just try not to get yourself killed."

She patted my shoulder lightly, with a faint smile and went through the door first.

"Easy enough, if I wasn't on this planet, that is," I responded sarcastically.

Suddenly, the whole crew split up and went into different directions, leaving me behind with Jan and Cathy. I had no idea what to do, so I decided to follow Jan and Cathy.

"We are here," Jan explained, pointing at the com unit grid. "If we go here, we should be able to see the main shield generator control room."

So that was their plan? If my guess was right, they were trying to shut down the kingdom's defense power system and disable the outside shields. Great plan, except they really didn't plan it right. Something as important as that was probably heavily guarded—no way could a mere handful of soldiers pull this off.

"You know your plan is suicide" I commented, making a remark to get their attention. They both looked at me with eyes full of resent, causing me to feel a bit uneasy.

"It's better than doing nothing," Cathy hissed, and stood up, with her fist clenched. "Do you have anything worth fighting for?"

Of course! Perhaps, I shouldn't have used those exact words. They sure took everything seriously. Jan picked up his equipment quickly, "it's time to leave, I don't think the others outside can keep on attacking. They will run out of ammo soon, so we need to get these shields down now."

"Lead the way," I said, giving him a hand sign to proceed in front of me, since he knew the way. Jan began to run at a constant pace. We followed behind him, holding our guns in our hands. The tunnel ended directly beneath a series of metal stairs. We climbed them, going up until we reached a shaft. Jan signaled us to follow him through the tight shaft to the other side. He was leading us through a series of random passages—it felt like he was just side winding it. I think we were lost.

"Relax, guys, this is a shortcut. If we follow this map, we should get somewhere soon."

"Somewhere! Are you serious?" I rattled in anger. "Do you even know where you are going?"

"Stop," he growled and we all halted.

Below us, a squadron of guard soldiers, in super armor showed up, marching in a straight line. They were carrying weapons and it looked like they were going directly to war. Wait! These guys looked exactly like the people I had seen on the video com link; the soldiers who took my crew away and disappeared. I was definitely in the right location. My crew was here. As soon as the guards left, we began to move again, following Jan's map.

"There it is," he pointed at a unique compartment, spaced apart from the other rooms.

It was very small, hardly about three quarters of a room, in size, and heavily guarded by three dozen soldiers.

"There is no way to get in there," I said to Cathy, holding her shoulder to stop her from proceeding.

"Are you always this negative and doubtful? It's no wonder Rose left you."

Hurtful! Okay, that was really what I would call a low blow, in my opinion. How did she know about Rose? Just how many people knew? Never mind! I don't think I wanted to know, it would probably mess with my mind.

"Just keep yourself hidden for now, and try not to fall behind," she said and began to crawl her way out of the tunnel. "Switch your system to sonar vision and use a disruptor to cover your movements from the enemy's tracking system. They probably have traps mounted everywhere"

I did as I was told and checked my equipment, one last time, running a diagnostic check in case we came under attack. Silently, we moved to a more secluded position, allowing ourselves a full view of the entire surrounding compartments. Due to the enhancements in my helmet, I could hear everything the enemy was saying. Thank you technology!

"How many forces does the enemy have?" a superior looking soldier spoke, looking at a very big visual screen. "Deploy all our troops and surround them, make sure none of them survive."

"As you command," all of the soldiers replied at the same time, like they all possessed the same brain.

It freaked me out a bit, but it explained what Kristin said about them being under some kind of hypnosis. Their movements were not wasted as they moved like one entity. There were no arguments and constant bickering most armies had. It made me wonder for a bit if having people under hypnosis was the only way to stop people from fighting. No! What am I saying? Was I really considering that as an option? I mean, it was after all taking away people's individual right to freedom and choice. I placed my hand on my helmet and closed my eyes, to clear my thoughts completely. In order to succeed, I had to keep my mind focused and rational. I looked around and observed all the soldiers within the vicinity. Every little movement they made gave me a clue as to how to launch our assault. The soldiers were stationed at every corner and exit in pairs. Direct confrontation would play badly for us, meaning we had to catch them off guard and launch a guerrilla attack.

"Let's move in closer," Jan whispered, while slowly creeping closer to the control room.

We crawled our way out of sight and stopped once we were within a few yards away. It was getting intense; my heart was racing. One wrong mistake and we would be found out. I glanced at the others for comfort, but found none. They were occupied and focused on the task at hand, they barely saw the worry on my face. The guards patrolled around us without realizing what was happening. Strangely, it was like they were not trying to find us. Was this possibly a trap? It sure looked like they were leading me into the hands of the enemy. I felt an odd feeling in my stomach and realized what I had to do. When Jan and Cathy were not looking, I took out an EMP generator and stuck it on the wall of tunnel shift—a few inches behind me.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," I said, reassuring myself.

I looked back at the generator, and realized I had secured my way out of this mess, in case things went quickly south on me. Jan stopped briefly, and began cutting one of the satellite link grids. He extended his arms out, typing codes into a small grid screen at the end of the shaft. Silently, the mounted machine let out a blipping flash of red light, which then turned green after five seconds. Images and videos began to pop up on his pad. It seemed like whatever they were seeing was being displayed directly to his hack pad, allowing him to see what the enemy was seeing.

"It will take time to manually cut the system off without being noticed," Jan whispered to us, as he kept trying to redirect the power out of the building. "This might be harder than we thought, but try to buy me as much time as possible."

"Den, can you hear me?" a voice suddenly spoke through my com link.

Crap! I was not expecting that. I was startled as so was Jan and Cathy. A loud siren came online as the whole place began to go under lockdown. I heard footsteps closing on our position, fast and loud. We had been compromised. Of all the fortune in the world! I clenched my fist hard out of frustration and sighed down heavily.

"What did you do?" Cathy shook me against the wall in anger.

Just my luck, my com link would come online when I really didn't want it. It sounded like Rick or Dalla—meaning they were really close by, within a fifty mile radius. But what were they doing here?

"There is an intruder," all the soldiers' voices rattled through the walls.

"Find them and destroy them," a single loud voice commanded the other soldiers.

"I will deal with you later, but right now, we have to fight," Cathy said and burst out of the thin shaft wall.

She rattled towards them, firing her power burst gun. Her movements were fast and agile, I barely caught sight of her. I moved in closer and studied the surrounding to find a better defensive position. Outnumbered and outgunned, going on the offensive was suicide. Jan barely looked back; he kept trying to hack into the power system relentlessly. On the other hand, Cathy was going fully berserk. She knocked soldiers left and right, moving out of range when things got too hot. I wanted to go and help her; however, I chose not to. Our mission depended on Jan, so protecting his life was my top priority at the moment.

"Hurry, Jan," I said and turned on the weapon system in my suit.

Two surveillance drones deployed out of my suit and began to attack from above. Unfortunately, they didn't last a few minutes as they were easily taken out by one of the soldiers. I quickly lifted up and begun shooting at the guards from the air, with a Rasian Javelin super blaster. Magnificent, the weapon was light and powerful; it shot out a barrage of target lock guarded rockets, but regrettably, they all missed.

"Crappy piece of technology!"

The guards easily avoided my heat guided rockets with ease and pursued after me. Thankfully, they lacked the flight ability to come after me in the air. I watched them and studied the pattern and rhythm of their movements. Amazing, it was like they were one single entity—moving in the same style and attacking perfectly, in a synchronized manner.

"Hold still, will you?" I yelled out of frustration.

It was a rather bothersome trick to say the least. I would never have believed this if someone had told me. Ali was right: the truth was stranger than fiction. Mindless puppets, baby terror beasts, dimensional warp gates, alien resistant soldiers, etc. The list goes on. It felt like I was reading some fictional hologram. Everything on this planet made me question my own perception of reality. Without warning, a blast knocked me out of the air and I crash landed onto the metal gritted floor hard. It was painful and unexpected. Again, they took out one of my flight thrusters, forcing me into ground confrontation.

"What are we going to do?" I yelled to Cathy, retreating back to cover Jan from harm. "Can't you call the others for backup?"

"No," she replied quickly, "you screwed up, and I can't let you jeopardize us any longer."

"So, what do you want us to do?" I yelled back at her as I ducked past a blast of blue metallic bullets.

"Just hold out until Jan is done," Cathy yelled to me and retracted her body back for another attack at the soldiers. "Get ready, here they come."

Something was odd. The enemy had changed stance and were attacking in brief and short intervals, in pairs. Somehow, they were telepathically communicating and coordinating their attacks, giving us no room to breathe at all. I took out some armor disruptors from my bag and threw them at one of them. His armor short circuited after a few seconds and he fell on the ground, barely able to move. The rest of them were able to evade the disruptors easily and attack me inexorably.

"This is irritating," I commented, roughly, and descended towards the floor.

I wasn't getting anywhere by attacking in the air. The moment my feet touched the ground, I removed a metal disruptor short sword and stood between Jan and the soldiers. Odds were really bad, my best chance of winning lay in attacking randomly without strategy. Considering their brains were linked, this plan would work. Man, of all the places to be stuck in the universe, it just had to be an alien, infested planet, didn't it?

I tensed my body and rotated my head horizontally at each of my opponents. They looked fierce and rather intimidating; none of them moved a muscle or even blinked. Eyes dark and powerful like black daggers, I freaked out a little. Not scared, but freaked. I heard a rough noise and turned my head towards the sound. One of the soldiers had jolted first without warning, coming at me with a baton like stuff. It emitted strange electric energy, glowing blue in color. He swung sideways in a wild manner, aiming for my head, and by some fortunate chance, he narrowly missed me—rotating his arm to attack again. This time, I got closer and reduced the impact of his attack by gripping his arm tightly. Without giving him any chance to get free, I struck first with my dagger and cut a piece off his chest armor. The others watched silently, observing my attack pattern. What were they waiting for? Honestly, I wasn't complaining, it was easier for me this way. Out of the blue, two more came towards me, forcing me to move back a few steps. Warning signs started to pop up on my helmet screen, showing me the damage stats. The armor was still holding strong; however, it wouldn't last, not against a powerful enemy as this. A strange explosion erupted, creating confusion amongst the alien soldiers. Each of them reacted the same way, distracting them away from me. Yes, I used this to my advantage to distance myself from them and rest for a bit, before they attacked again. Apparently, they reacted badly to high explosive attacks. Or so I thought: worth the risk. I dug into my weapons satchel and found small dud grenades, about six of them. I needed more than this. They weren't enough, but I had to make them work to my advantage somehow.

"Try not to kill them," Cathy said, seeing the dud grenades in my hand.

"So, now you tell me?" I growled at her; it was easier said than done.

They were trying to kill me with everything they had. It was not going to be easy to keep them back. "Why shouldn't I kill them?" I asked as I backed away. Their attention had reverted back to me.

"Because they are still my people, they are just under hypnosis," she said and punched one of the soldiers so hard, he smashed head first in a wall.

Really now! So, I couldn't kill them, but she could?

"I'm almost done," Jan yelled at us and gave us a hand signal, "I should be able to shut it down from here."

"Great, just hurry." Cathy said.  
He still wasn't done, meaning I had to buy him some more time. Rather hard since these guys were no easy picnic. I couldn't help this feeling in my heart, this feeling of fear and doubt that kept latching onto me. Could we really survive this? To be specific, could I survive this? Cathy looked like she could handle her own, even against this many.

"Cathy, I want you to take Jan and get out of here," I said trembling in fear.

Darn! I had no idea why I said that but I had. "I have a plan and I will be right behind you." Crap! I had no plan, and for some unknown reason, I was just blurting out things I really didn't mean at all. Stupid me as usual, doing things beyond my pay scale.

"What are you planning to do?" Cathy asked, looking at me with such curious eyes.

This was my chance to really act brave and impress her enough to forget what I had done in the past. For some reason, I just wanted her to change her opinion about me, and maybe not backstab me in the end.

"That's crazy, just keep firing and we will get out of this together," she said and fired a few more rounds at the soldiers.

"No, we can't," I said in a frustrated voice that did not sound like me. "Remember when you asked me if I had anything worth fighting for? Well, now, I have. I want you to take Jan and leave this place immediately."

Great! I was trembling in my boots, barely able to hold back my fear; however, I had to act tough for them and for the sake of the mission. Cathy halted her attack as she looked at me in wonder. She probably knew I was up to something and she wanted to figure it out.

"I'm done," Jan said, rising up quickly.

Before he could come to us, a stray bullet caught him in the leg. He wimped in pain, as he fell to the ground. There was a slight fume odor oozing out of his injured leg.

"No, Jan," Cathy screamed and dashed towards him.

It was bad, nevertheless he would survive, provided he got immediate medical attention. The mindless soldiers stopped moving, watching us constantly. I took a few steps back and moved towards Cathy and Jan—my eyes glued towards our enemy. Definitely, couldn't afford to take it easy, not around these guys. Still, it was good they were not attacking; it gave us time to think of a better escape strategy. Suddenly, they all leaped in to attack us at the same time. I twisted my body and rotated on my axis, kicking one of the guys with everything I had. He fell to the ground and twitched for a couple of seconds. That move didn't stop the others from coming after me. I looked back and saw Cathy try to lift Jan up to his feet. She wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings, meaning it was all up to me to defend them. I turned around again and saw two alien drone soldiers rush towards me. One swung from the bottom, while the other from above, coming from opposite directions. Realizing the danger, I swerved back and threw a few dud and real grenades onto their path. Completely single minded, they probably wouldn't see my trap. Nothing happened; the grenades did not explode at all. Crap, not exactly what I intended to happen. I watched the two soldiers stop in their path, for a minute, before they launched their second attack. It was amazing how well they executed every move. Nothing was left to chance, and it felt like they had practiced these maneuvers for years on end. I ran out of their way and moved far, to the other side of the building.

"I said go," I yelled to Cathy, while leading the horde of soldiers away from them.

She nodded and helped Jan up to flee. Before one of the soldiers could go towards them, I threw a few smoke canisters in their direction and blocked him from seeing which way they went. The plan worked smoothly. Cathy and Jan managed to escape without anyone chasing after them. Now all their attention was reverted towards me.

Great! Now what? I had apparently left that important piece out of my strategy. I was completely trapped and surrounded by over 20 soldiers—not good at all.

"You have no place to go," they all spoke at the same time.

True! There was no path left for me to escape out of this mess. This was probably my last stand alive. Surrendering was not an option in the matter, since there was more at stake than my life. I firmly gripped all my weapons and tensed my body hard. If this was my last stand, I was going to make them work for it. Plus, the others needed more time to escape and destroy the gate. However, right now, I needed some questions answered.

"Where is the people you took from the large earth ship?" I asked.

"You will see them soon enough after you surrender, you have no place to go," one of them said.

He was a big man and had many symbols on his armor, like he was the general or higher. For some reason, he didn't seem hypnotized like the others. I clenched tight on my gun and coiled my back, in retaliation. Surrendering was not an option. But he had confirmed what I needed to know. They were alive after all; my crew was here and I was going to find them.

"Rick, they are here," I said through my com link, which was now operational.

I paused for a minute and took slow deep breaths to conserve some of my energy. I had probably burned off most of the glycogen in my system, meaning it was a matter of time before my body began to move sluggishly.

"Don't worry, Den," Rick spoke back to me and I could now see his face through the com link. "We will find them."

I smiled as an idea came to my head. It was risky, but one that I could possibly execute.

"Rick, I have a plan. You need to listen carefully," I whispered my plan to him as my enemy looked closely at me without moving a muscle. "Please hurry, there isn't enough time left."

He listened and went along with my plan, despite the doubt and fear in his voice. All that was left was to buy myself some time until Rick got to this location, using the ship.

"Attack him now," the general guy growled and all 20 soldiers moved, accordingly, with precision.

Quickly, I switched the remaining power in my suit manually to my shield and created a force field around myself, to defend myself from attack. An EMP explosion rattled the ground as I pulled the trigger, quickly shutting down everything that ran on electricity. Oh crap! The soldiers' systems did not go offline. Their armor was adapted to some other sort of power supply—like mine was. Great! My other plan had failed to work and now the enemy was going to attack relentlessly without mercy. Although, that little destruction had bought me enough time to make a hasty retreat, that was if I could.

"Duck now," Rick yelled from the com link.

After hearing his voice, I ran towards the nearest solid block I could find and covered my head.

"What are you doing?" they all said and laughed at me, infuriating me deeply.

Stupid fools, I looked up and saw the biggest explosion I had ever seen before. It rattled everything, scorching the entire block into chaos and confusion. The blast was far much grander than what I expected. Perhaps, he had thrown too much of those destructive pellets which resulted in this explosion. I was hurled back and forth in the blaze of fire and my shields did nothing much to protect me from harm. Before I knew it, my head hit the wall so hard, I quickly lost consciousness and blanked out into darkness.

9

"What is it that you fight for?" a voice awakened me from my slumber. "What is it that you seek?"

Oh great! Were we playing trivia now? I opened my eyes slowly into the darkness, and saw a small pond in front of me. It glowed with radiant, clear vivid water. Just what I needed, another weird and strange dream. I walked up to it and took a sip full of water. Funny thing was I couldn't quench the thirst that still lurked within me, no matter how much I drank. What was this strong feeling of emptiness? I had never felt it before until now. It was like I was missing something very important; I just couldn't remember what it was.

"Tell me, what it is that you seek?" the voice asked again from the darkness, a strange chill of fear crept up my spine. "Why do you seek it, when you already have it?"

Seriously! Was this some sort of a bad joke? I mean, if I already had what I was looking for, then was there a point in looking for it? Well, it didn't matter, I had to get out of this place and join the others. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing. No shade of light was present. This total darkness was maddening; I couldn't find my way in it. All I could do was stay in one place, to not get lost.

"Get me out of this thing," I said out loud to whoever was doing this to me. "This joke is no longer funny, as you can see, I'm not laughing."

There was a deep, long silence, followed by a chilly blowing wind. I could feel totally nothing. So this was what true isolation felt like? It felt like crap. If I lost everything, this was what I had to look forward to.

"I can't get you out of here," someone responded to me after a while, "this place is within your heart and only you can get yourself out of here."

Not this again, I was really getting tired of answers and questions that couldn't be proved logically through science. How could this possibly be my heart? One cannot enter his own heart physically or mentally. If I told anyone about this, I would be locked in a mental asylum for at least a decade. I was trapped by the enemy, somewhere large and dark. That made more sense to me, but the only way to get out of this nightmare was to play along. I stood alone in the dark, thinking of everything I had done in the past and present. Yep, it was a whole lot of baggage dragging on my shoulders. Maybe, some time alone in the dark was what I really needed to get my act together. What am I saying? This didn't make sense at all.

"Stop joking, how do I get out of this place?" I screamed out of frustration. "I have somewhere to be and there are people who need me."

"Only you can get yourself out of this," it said and faded out of my hearing.

Great! I was expected to believe I was trapped inside my own heart. Rather not what I ever thought possible in my lifetime. This was seriously ruining my already messed up day. It was bad enough I stuck my neck into an alien civil war, but now this? The mere idea of solving this problem made my stomach turn. I shook my head, "No, I will get out of here and get back to the others."

Fatality was not acceptable, not at this point. I still had to find Rose, wherever she was—there was something I needed to ask her. It was important and I was going to wait to ask it when I found her. Yes, I refused to let it end like this, not without a fight. That being said, I was still stuck here with no sense of direction. The only way out was to play along with the silly charade of a game. "Okay, pretend this is your heart. You are inside your own heart."

With those thoughts in my mind, I took a deep breath and went into the depths of my heart. Okay, maybe, this was my heart, just saying I had to keep an open mind. And this darkness was the product of all my thoughts and actions to this day and age. If that was the case, all I had to do was forgive myself and clear my heart. Simple enough!

"No, what was I saying?" I screamed at myself out loud. "Could I be really buying into this crap?"

Calm down, it was all an illusion, a game of minds and all I had to do was think smarter. I don't know how much time passed, but it seemed like eternity, as I gathered myself and cleared my mind of all my negative thoughts. The more I tried to put logic into the situation, the harder it was to figure the puzzle out: "So, no logic!"

I felt something change suddenly. It was working; there was faint light around me. It was coming from above. I looked around and saw nothing around me—no walls, no ceiling, no latches, or tunnels. I'm sure this was all just a bad dream I would forget about later, but for now, I had to play along. Note to self: don't tell anyone about this.

Now what! A tunnel formed in front of me, horizontally, leading somewhere. I think this was my way out. Finally, I was going to leave this wretched place behind. Quickly, I ran towards it with all my might, forgetting all my restraints and doubt. The thought of it being another enemy trap skipped my mind. All I wanted was to get out and rejoin my allies. Before I could pass through it, I saw a door that said, "Rose" on it, halfway through the strange tunnel, glued on the left side.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at it. Definitely caught by surprise, I wasn't expecting it. What kind of a sick joke was this? Apparently, the enemy liked to watch me humiliating myself. But what if I was wrong? What if this was all real? What if this was the answer I was looking for? What am I thinking? All this was confusing. Although, that did nothing to stop me from pondering what was beyond that door. Perhaps, the answers I wanted, answers hidden within my subconscious self. Maybe I already knew what happened to her and my heart just didn't want to accept it. A part of me wanted to open the door and know the truth, but the other part didn't. What if the truth was something that was going to pain me? Could I live with the shock? But what if she is alive and waiting for me somewhere?

Darn! I couldn't come up with a decision I could accept. There was no right choice.

"Den, are you still alive?" I heard a voice, coming from somewhere in the light.

It was Rick's voice from what I could tell, and he seemed really worried. Before I even knew it, one of my hands was holding the door about to open it. No, I stopped myself and pulled away, clouded in thoughts. What if this was the only chance I would ever get to know the truth? I really wanted to see Rose again, but I decided now was not the time to look for her. Whatever the case may be, I was going to find her one day soon, just not now. I ran towards the light, after taking two more glances at the door. It took everything I had to run away from that door. Every fiber in my body revolted against me, except for my heart. It told me I was doing the right thing. But was I really? Unexpectedly, I was up again, back in reality or what seemed real. I was covered in debris and dirt up to my shoulders. There were screams everywhere as there was total chaos and what appeared to be the sound of gun fire. "Please tell me this is another bad dream?"

What had I awoken up to? This was a disaster; there was fire everywhere and destruction raining down upon the entire alien kingdom. What had I done? Had I caused this too, by joining with the resistance? How many people would die because of my actions? I had no idea this was going to happen. The level of this devastation and violence was of epic proportions. No, I had not agreed to this. This was the last thing I wanted on my newly cleansed soul. Main priority- stop the invasion/war.

I pulled myself out free and struggled back to my feet. The battery that powered my suit had been replaced with a static generator, which took too long to recharge after use. Very bad for this type of situation, but at least—it wasn't going to explode. Wait, I was finally free of those Pesky Rasian resistance soldiers and their enemies. I could finally go my own way and find my missing crew.

"Den, are you still alive?" Dalla asked from the com link.

"Yeah, somehow, I made it in one piece," I responded as I sat down, taking a break.

My legs and arms felt numb, like I had been sat on by a giant terror beast. I felt so tired and hungry, it was gruesome, easy to lie down and sleep. That last explosion had taken everything I had—so fighting at this state was futile. Another loud ominous explosion erupted, the ground trembling violently beneath my weary feet. Things were getting intense with each passing second. Seriously, I was way in over my head. Probably best to make a hasty retreat and wait out the battle.

"No, you can't," that tiny voice in my conscience spoke. "You have come too far to run away now."

Crap, that was true. A part of me believed there was something I could still do to end this war, once and for all. It was a chance I had to take; too much was at stake here. If the resistance lost, then earth was next. I couldn't let that happen, not while I was still alive.

"You really went overboard on this one," I said, speaking to Rick through the com link. "I would have been blown to ashes, if I hadn't seen it coming."

"Oh, shut up," Rick growled back, without hesitation in his voice. "It was your plan, so don't blame me if it didn't go the way you intended."

True, if there was anyone to blame it was me; I just never imagined it would work this well.

"Can you guys pick me up from there?" I asked, trying to figure out their location. If our com link line was working this well, then it meant they were close by and within range.

"Sorry, Den," Dalla responded back. It was clear that it was a hopeless situation. "You are too far underground and the building is collapsing under, making it hard to descend down there. You have to come to us, somehow."

Great! Could things get any worse? I thought of earth and everything being destroyed if what Kristin said was true. How could I possibly stand by and let that happen? Something had to be done to stop that from happening. I picked up my weapons and began to move slowly amongst the rubble, seeking to find my way out. It looked like the entire infrastructure had become unstable because it was shaking randomly as I walked by. Without warning, the roof began to crack all around me like something was crawling above ground. This was not my day, was it? I began to run as fast as I could, ignoring the cruel pain, hoping to find a way up and escape. So far, it looked like all the exits had been sealed off by the explosion, which only made things worse for me. Before the left side of the roof completely collapsed, I jumped onto a broken rail and held on with one arm, while the other clutched onto the weapons bag. One of the guns fell out along with a few grenades, as I struggled to hang on. The more I struggled to climb up, the more the rail bent towards the ground.

Darn! I stopped moving to think carefully. What could I do? Any sudden movements and I would take a nasty fall. It looked like this was it for real. Maybe, I was going to get fortunate again and somehow survive this mess. The building shook again unruly and one of the blocks broke off, descending down towards my location. It was smashing everything in its path as it fell uncontrollably to the bottom section.

"Just not my day, is it?" I screamed and began to climb up the rail.

The weapons bag fell to the ground and I ignored it completely. This was a fight for survival. What good would a bag of weapons do for me if I was dead? With fate on my side, I managed to grab onto something solid before the rail gave out and fell down to the bottomless ground. It appeared bottomless, but I doubted it so much. It was just a few thousand feet deep below, at the most.

"Oh what am I saying?" I shook my head, awakening myself back to reality.

There was a rogue building block that was going to crash me within a matter of seconds. I believed that was more important now than anything. As l looked around to see anything I could use to escape, I noticed something—just a bit above me. It was a small tunnel, the size of a drainage pipe. Could I make a break for it and reach it in time? Oh well, there was no other option at this point for me to consider. I began climbing without hesitation, trying to make it up the tunnel before the block fell on top of me. It was a very difficult task, considering I was injured and really out of time.

"Den, can you hear us?" Rick said through the com link.

"Now is not the time, Rick," I replied rudely, out of patience.

Even one second was precious to me, as I was at a point between life and death again. I don't know how many more of these encounters I could take. Hopefully, this would be one of the last ones for me. Just as I touched the edge of the tunnel, I pushed myself up with all my might and reached in for the tunnel. Phew! I thought it was over and I had escaped, but I was wrong. Somehow my right foot was scraped narrowly as the large object swooshed past me. It ached terribly like all the mast cells in my body were releasing histamine at the same time, producing inflammation. I wanted to cry, but it was not very manly-like to cry because of a bruised leg. I heard a loud thump as the block smashed on the ground, followed by an earsplitting rumbling, which kept vibrating for a few more seconds.

"Well, when you make time, I want to tell you something," Rick hissed at me, in a loud pitched voice. "The outer roof is about to collapse anytime now, and the whole building is going to fall."

"Thanks, Rick, for the great news," I rattled back at him.

More good news to celebrate, I really didn't mean that, but I just wanted to scream out for a second and get all this fury out. My leg was hurt and I was in no condition to keep moving, let alone fight. All I needed was at least an hour of rest. But even that came as a difficult choice at the moment, considering where I was. I was responsible for causing all this destruction—so I owed it to myself to try and fix this mess. Unexpectedly, a beeping sound echoed from my heat sensing system. I noticed one of the scanners had picked up some heat signals, radiating from a few yards ahead of me. This was promising; they looked human enough from what the scanners emitted. Ignoring my pain, I crept towards it slowly through the small tunnel. I had no idea what I was thinking, but I felt hopeful. My search was finally coming to an end, or at least I thought. The tunnel ended close to an open shaft that led down. I stopped and looked down carefully. It was too quiet, nothing out of the ordinary. No guards stationed around, thankfully. I waltzed down undetected and searched persistently through the compartments. Someone coughed loudly, definitely a good sign. The cough came from the compartment on the west side of the floor. I walked quickly to it and stopped. A large hunk of metal was blocking the door, making it hard to open from the inside. Prying it away, I opened the hatch seal and walked in quietly. There was some sort of magnetic beam rendering the armor useless. I immediately felt it the moment I entered the room; however, the effects were not as bad, since I was not on the other side, with the other prisoners.

"Who are you?" one of the men asked, and I recognized him immediately. "Are you here to finish us off? Just get it over and done with already, instead of locking us up in here."

It was Corporal Stain, the leading officer in my squad, and one of the experts in Metaphysics. Great! It looked like I had finally found everyone and they were all okay, for the most part.

"It's me, Den," I said and took off my helmet for them to see my face. "Surprised, aren't you, that I'm still alive?"

"No way," the captain commented and his eyes widened, "Peter told us you went rogue and almost killed one of your colleagues. He said he had no choice, but to blast you to ashes." Typical! That was so like Peter to say something like that. Under different circumstances, I would have died instantly, but I survived.

"In your faces, everybody," the lieutenant laughed at them, pointing his fingers at everyone. "I bet on the rookie, and guess what, he survived. Now you owe me money and I intend to collect it soon or none of us are going home."

"Oh, shut up, Jack," the captain sighed, completely annoyed.

So typical, I would have been mad, at first, if this was before that unusual dream. Now, just seeing them all in one piece, meant the world to me. My eyes shifted involuntary and suddenly I was staring at Janet, awkwardly. She looked surprised and her eyes almost seemed to glow with a magnificent radiance. Something I hadn't felt over the years crept in. Did I still have any feelings for her? The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was just my imagination. I had left the past behind me, but still, I felt a bit of relief seeing her alive. "Look away, don't let her charm affect you."

I moved around and scanned the locks sealing them in. Wait! There was someone missing from the group, but I just couldn't pinpoint who. It was the man who I despised the most, the man who had almost killed me. Where was that arrogant buffoon?

"Where is Peter?" I asked them as I got closer to the holding cell. A feeling of rage and anger swelled inside of me, but I didn't let my emotions take over.

"Let's just say he is no longer one of us," the captain said and looked down with a look of betrayal.

What did he mean? Was Peter dead or something? So much for my sweet revenge.

"Peter went over to the enemy's side," Corporal Stain said, with a voice so low it sounded almost remorseful. "He gave the enemy all our intel and data we gathered from the past few centuries. In other words, he gave us up for invasion."

"The enemy knows about our plans and intends to act hastily," the captain intervened, standing up. "But don't worry, I sent an SOS signal to earth. Hopefully, reinforcements will come soon."

No, I clenched my fist tightly shocked. I knew Peter was a conniving two time, dirty weasel, but not a traitor. He wouldn't do something this terrible, would he? What did he have to gain by switching over to the other side? There had to be an explanation and the only way to get answers was to find him first. First things first!
"Save the chat for later," I said and began looking for the controls. "We have to get out of this place, this building is about to collapse."

The trembling had stopped; I could still hear and feel small tremors beneath our feet, alongside with the echoes of battle above us. I glanced down slightly, looking for the release kill switch. Darn, I couldn't read the controls. They were written in the ancient Rasian language, which had become extinct in the present day earth. Time was critical, and I was a desperate man.

"Everybody, stand back," I yelled and smashed the controls with my right hand.

Sparks rained everywhere, followed by a sudden system failure in the entire compartment. It went dark for a few seconds and then zap—emergency power came on. All of my companions' armors became functional again, allowing them full access to their offense and defense system.

"Thanks, Den," the captain said with a smile and stood up. He put back his head gear and walked towards me. "Everyone get up and follow Den out of this place."

Good, it seemed everyone was here except for Peter and two more that were still unaccounted for. Just what was going on here? Why did Peter betray his planet? I wanted to know, but time was not my ally. At any time, the building could plummet. We had to escape somehow before that happened.

"Dalla, I found them and got everyone out, meet us at the south exit," I said through the com link. My eyes shifted left and right, scanning to find a safe passage out.

All of my bearings were off; I had no idea where I was. I paused briefly and typed in some encrypted instructions into my navigational system. Once I was done, I repositioned my com map and began to lead the way towards the south exit. It was the closest to our spot. We had to risk it and go towards it. By my understanding, most of the exits had been blocked by debris falling from the roof; however, there were still some tunnels at the south exit that were not as affected by the explosion.

"Through here," I said, showing everyone a tunnel that looked the safe.

"You are joking, right?" the lieutenant said from his com link that seemed to work now. "We can't all fit into that tiny little space at the same time. What if the tunnel collapses above us?"

Too negative, I never thought there was something even the lieutenant feared, and now—I was wrong. He seemed to have a fear of small spaces, just by what he said to me before.

"Man up," the captain commented and went first, followed by Stain and two others.

I went next and the rest followed in a line. He was right, the tunnel was a bit crowded and very small, but for now, it was the only way. We kept going through more series of tunnels and the lieutenant kept complaining every time we passed through them. It was a bit annoying because his comments kept making everyone nervous, especially me of all people. He had the wildest imagination, and in each of them, a different scenario played out, in which it never ended good for all of us.

"Shut up for crying out loud," the captain ordered him every five minutes and he never did. I hated imagining being stuck with him in those holding cells for more than a week. Yep! That was indeed a terrifying thought to imagine. Suddenly, the building began to tilt like it was almost falling backwards.

"We have to power up the flight systems, because we might have to destroy our way out of here" the captain said as he switched his armor to manual control. His suit let out a small bleep that faded quickly into silence. "Darn! Our suits are still not at full power. It looks like we are on our own for now."

Great! That was just perfect; it was the last thing I wanted to hear in this dire situation. If their armor were not functional, it was going to be bad if we came across terror beasts or soldiers from this kingdom. But I was okay since my armor ran on an external energy source. Probably best if I took the lead. I chose not to at the last minute, didn't want to have the "chain of command" talk with the captain. The captain slowed down and halted, close to the other mouth of the tunnel. We all exited and stood next to each other, glancing cautiously around. It was blocked with debris and we couldn't turn back now because there was no time left.

"Great plan, genius, so now what," Stain said and folded his arms in disappointment.

"Shut up," I snapped back at him in frustration. "I don't hear you coming up with one."

"Okay, everyone, just calm down for a sec," the captain said and went to observe the south exit. "I have something that might work, I was saving it in case we needed to escape, and now is a good time as ever to use it."

He put his hand into his armor and pulled out what looked like one of those exploding pellets. Oh no! The nightmare from the explosions came to haunt me again. If that was what I think it was, then we were in trouble. Something that dangerous was definitely not the right choice to use at this distance. The blast radius was too wide and powerful for our shields.

"I know what you are thinking, Rookie, but we don't have a choice," the captain said to me and threw the pellet underneath the rubble of the exit. "Everybody, duck now."

Oh no! The captain was an idiot; his irrational move was going to get us all killed. Before we could even hide for cover, the pellet exploded and blasted away everything in close range to ashes. The building trembled uncontrollably as it could no longer support its weight, leaning towards our only exit. Large rubbles were falling dangerously towards us, threatening to crash all of us.

"Run for the exit," I yelled, pointing to the way out that had opened, thanks to the explosion. There wasn't enough time, the building was coming down on us. Everyone began to run as fast as they could, and we all made it out with minor injuries. I looked back and saw the building collapse into the tunnels beneath. A few seconds too short, and it would have been us going down with it.

"We can see you guys," Dalla said through the com link as a ship hovered above us.

It was the ship we had used before we all got separated. Finally things were starting to look bright again for once. No, it was still not the right moment to celebrate. The cargo ship descended next to us, opening its large hatch doors. Someone came to greet us; it was Rick

"Get in," he waved towards us quickly. Rick helped the rest of the crew get into the compartments that were still free. It looked like they had gotten the supplies we needed and were ready to head back at any moment.

"How did you guys get these materials?" I asked them curiously—I doubted they bought this equipment or got them for free.

"Don't ask," Dalla said and went to the controls to plot the coordinates back to the main ship. Right! Why did I even bother? I mean, by now, I knew their personality types and a little bit about their character enough to know that they stole this equipment during this ruckus.

"You guys, head back, I have something I need to do?" I said and went into the armory, to pick up some weapons.

"Are you stupid or something?" Rick howled at me. He stopped me, halfway, before I could exit with a hand to the shoulder.

It was obvious that he thought I had lost my mind or something, and in some sense, I had. But something deep inside me was pushing me to go back—a mild and deep sensation of responsibility, unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I shrugged his hand away and proceeded towards the exit hatch door. Deep in my thoughts, I decided nothing was going to stop me. Besides, I had to see Peter and confront him about his betrayal. Something had pushed him towards his madness. I had to know what it was exactly.

"At least take this with you," Rick threw what looked like a rechargeable power battery into my hands.

I examined it out of pure curiosity. It was so light and looked so fragile. I tried my best not to hold it too tight. There was something Rick was not telling me, but I just couldn't tell exactly what it was to be exact. In the corner of my eye, I saw the huge End Boss armor system staked slightly in the corner. Our last resort, if things ever got too dangerous. The thought of using it made my body tremble terribly. Thousands of cities burned to the ground when a lunatic used this armor, a few centuries ago. Not something I wanted repeated at all cost.

"Come back alive, okay?" Rick said and joined his sister in the main control room.

"Right!" I whispered to myself, looking down, out of words to say. Weapons, I needed weapons before I went out there. I retracted back from the hatch door and went into the armory.

Just what was I doing anyway? Logic told me to go with the others; however, my heart told me to go back.

"Oh well," I said to myself, replacing my armor battery with the new one.

My armor vibrated silently and blinked green, alerting me that it was at full power. All was good again—time to kick some alien scum. I took some javelin bazookas and a few exploding pellets and placed them deeply into a new satchel pack. All right, I was ready to combat any opponent who came up to me. Oh who am I kidding? As I recalled last time, these javelin bazookas had done little damage to the terror beasts, and it was probably going to be the same in this case. "What now, for crying out loud?"

Something landed on my head and held on too tight, causing me to lose my balance. It was some sort of creature of incredible power, grasping onto my head tightly. Was it a terror beast? But how had one got in here?

"Huggers, there you are," Rick said, walking into the armory. "I have been looking for you everywhere. Did you come to say goodbye to Den?"

That's right! I had forgotten that Rick was now friends with that little terror beast, of all things.

"You know, I really want to shoot it," I growled to him, wrestling to fix my hair again.

I could still feel what felt like claw marks on my scalp and it felt really weird. I observed the odd relationship Rick and the creature shared, rather an uncomfortable sight.

"Come on, Den," Rick said, patting his evil pet softly. "Huggers was just trying to be friendly, just give him another chance."

"Oh sure," I hissed, raising my eyebrows in anger, "Give him another chance so he could scratch my skull off? Yeah, don't think so."

The idea of becoming friends with a terror beast, after the madness they caused, was just ridiculous. These creatures were wild and dangerous. Eventually, Rick would learn that lesson the hard way. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too heart broken or dead. Without warning, the ship rattled and shook wildly. We had been hit by something. Pausing briefly, we looked at each other, confused, as we paced towards the main control room to see what was wrong. There was a small hole in the ship, causing some of the air outside to ooze in. Everyone put back on their helmets and began to prepare themselves for a confrontation.

"Leaving so soon without a goodbye?" I heard a familiar voice say, coming from outside.

"That voice," the captain boomed from the com link to us. "It's Peter, I really believe it is him."

Perfect timing, it saved me the trouble of having to look for him amidst this chaos. I clenched my fist, breathing deeply. My feelings towards him were great and negative. Grudges were not my thing, but when it came to Peter, that was another story. After his last stunt, I owed it to myself to get him back.

"Keep going and don't stop," I ordered Dalla as I exited the ship by myself. "Don't come back for me, no matter what happens. I will try to make it back as soon as I can."

Well! That was if I could; it looked like this was a one way trip for me. On the other hand, a risk I was willing to take. Looking ahead, I saw him and felt a surge of powerful anger. His appearance was different. Mainly, because of his newly acquired armor. It looked Rasian made, rather troublesome. I had to be careful in the way I confronted him.

"Been a while, old friend," I chuckled, tensing my body, aching to keep my emotions from taking control.

"Den! Impossible," Peter said, connecting to my com link. "How can you still be alive?"

Good question, if I knew, he was going to be the first to know, right after I kicked his rear.

"It doesn't matter why I'm still alive," I responded and aimed my javelin bazooka at him. "I am here right now and I have some questions I need to ask you."

"Well, you are right about one thing," he laughed like a maniac, hiding behind his new armor helmet. "You will be dead soon, so there is no point in asking. You should have stayed dead, but oh well."

Hearing his constantly annoying voice was really irritating me—all I wanted to do was stuff some missiles down his throat. Before that, I had to know why he did it. Why did he betrayed all of us? We were his companions, his allies, and friends. Not friends exactly; although, close enough.

"Siding with the enemy, how low can you get?" I bashed at him carelessly. "Why did you betray us?"

This couldn't be the Peter I once knew, it just couldn't be. The Peter I knew was a scoundrel, but he was no traitor. There had to be a motive behind his actions. I had to find out for myself, even if it killed me. Well, literally speaking, of course.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he snickered and fired small fast missiles from his new armor. What the! I barely saw them coming, until I was hit and on the ground. The damage impact on my chest was not deadly; nevertheless, painful. Impressive, he had acquired a very powerful armor to boast his ego. Another hit and it could be over instantly.

"This is the true power of the Rasian armor," he rampaged in madness, lifting his hands up in admiration.

"Can you feel its destructive power, Den? Have you ever felt anything like this before?"

Yep, it was official. I really wanted to stuff some missiles into his mouth. This was definitely Peter, but it wasn't the Peter I knew from my past. He had changed from the man I once knew. Could I save him? What if I had no choice than to kill him in the end? No! There had to be some kind of explanation for his madness and I had to find it out, before making any decision. Maybe he was under some kind of hypnosis, just like the others in this kingdom. That could be it or at least hoped. The ground suddenly vibrated as more explosions sounded throughout the kingdom. The echo of battle and chaos was just too great to ignore anymore, and if this continued, there were going to be more causalities.

"Peter, stop this lunacy, now," I tried to reach out to him, lowering my javelin bazooka. "You can still do the right thing and help us end this chaos. Your actions will not be held against you."

"You are wrong," he cut me off completely, with a tone that was almost human. "You and I both know that it is not true, Den. It is too late to save me and you know what? I don't want to be saved, for the first time in my life, I am free to be myself."

He was starting to infuriate me completely. The more he talked, the more I wanted to punch him in the gut. It was his voice, it just irritated me. "Is this what you call free? Look around you, at all this chaos, this isn't being free."

There was a long pause for a minute, I couldn't figure out what his true intentions were, but at least he wasn't attacking. Possibly, I was getting through to him.

"No, just shut up," he growled, raising his weapon at me. "No more talk, from now on, we just fight."

Okay then, I had tried. The only thing he now understood was violence. I raised my javelin bazooka and placed my left leg back for stability. Whoa, the weapon Peter was holding was glowing with radiance of neon particles—this was really dangerous for me. I had no idea how he had acquired one of these weapons, but if I took it head on: I was done for.

"This is the sword of Ras," he boasted, raising his weapon high, its shape shifted into a sword. "With this weapon, I will finish you once and for all."

He wasn't joking, wasn't he? It was now obvious he had completely lost his marbles and he was a danger to everyone around him. Fortunately, the others in the ship had taken off, so I didn't have to worry about them for now. But who was going to protect me from him? I had not planned this through and it definitely looked like a plan that was going to backfire at me.

"Here I come, Den," Peter rattled and dashed towards me at a massive speed.

He was so fast, I could barely keep up with him, even with the help of my armor scanners. His suit was giving him an advantage unlike anything I had ever seen before. I stepped back, closely tracking him, trying to distance myself from him. Getting close to this enraged psychopath was too dangerous. My best option was to fend him off from afar. Unfortunately, I couldn't distance myself, he was just too fast. Within close contact, he launched a forward strike with his neon sword, aiming for my chest, and I barely dodged it by ducking down. A piece of my armor was slashed off. He bounced off and retracted his blade for a second attack, from the bottom, aiming for my legs. I jumped out of his reach and extended my body away slowly. I needed a plan, something he couldn't predict. Going head to head with him was just suicide. I blinked one minute, and realized the next moment, he had vanished. Impossible! Perhaps, my eyes were playing tricks on me, wouldn't be the first time. Just what kind of armor did he have?

"Where are you looking?" a voice whispered from behind, followed by a jolting pain in my spine.

He had struck me down from behind with incredible speed; it looked hopeless for me. I fell hard to the ground, stunned, in pain. Never thought he would strike me from behind, a fatal mistake on my part. It was obvious—I was no match for him.

"Why is this situation familiar to me?" he commented, standing on top of me, with his sword pointed down on my neck. "Oh, that's right; I remember taking you out and you falling down into that hole. I don't know how you survived, but this time, there won't be no coming back."

I couldn't agree with him more, he was absolutely right on both statements. His arrogance was going to be his downfall; he was too confident to act cautiously around me.

"You are right about one thing," I smiled, with my shields raised to maximum around me. "Only one of us will survive this."

Peter lowered his sword in curiosity and came close to me to see why I had said that. Perfect! It was a mistake that was going to haunt him dearly, because it was the chance I had been waiting for. While he had been rumbling on with his crazy speech, I had thrown a dozen exploding remote grenades all around the ground, and waited patiently for the right moment.

"What are you," he said but didn't finish, as an explosion erupted and covered everything in massive fire.

Everything went blank. All I could see was this massive ray of light, like my life was flashing before my eyes. Darn! I had used too much explosives. Not my ideal style of winning, but it was all to vanquish a greater foe. I coughed out as smoke came through my helmet. The lens covering it shattered to a few pieces, sending small fragments of glass next to my eyes. On the bright side, I was alive, although in bad shape. Can't say the same for Peter, even if he was still alive, he wasn't too happy. I looked around and saw nothing beyond the vibrant smoke. Had that explosion destroyed him? Nah! That fiend was still out there somewhere, just lying in wait. There was so much smoke and debris everywhere; it was the aftermath of a terrible war. My posterior body armor had been synched off and the chest area was almost half exposed.

"You know that was a good plan, but it didn't work," a cold voice said. It was Peter and he sounded close by.

I shrugged back in intense fear; my plan had failed after all. Peter sounded like himself and not someone in pain. All that work had been for nothing, making me feel completely worthless. From the fog of dust, Peter appeared, limping slowly with his fists clenched and shaky. No, I had injured him after all. A part of his armor had been dented badly—I could tell by the smoke it was emitting in the back.

"I have had enough of you," Peter hissed at me and charged: "I will end this now."

Quickly, I stood up and shifted my body sideways, to move into his blind spot. Something was different about him. His once lightning speed was gone as he was now slower, and his movements were almost predictable. I could easily predict the range of his neon sword and evade without too much trouble.

"What is wrong, Peter?" I teased, starting to feel confident I could win. That last explosion had damaged his armor, nullifying his speed back to normal. Every move he made was easy to read and counter. "I thought you said you would end it now."

Peter's movements became even more vicious as the length of his blade extended greatly. Yes, that idiot was letting his emotions impair his judgment. Despite my advantage, I had no weapon strong enough to defend against this sword. It was on a level completely above anything made on earth. Neon swords had gone extinct during the third Great War, plus they were also expensive to manufacture. The only way to counter was to get in close and attack him at full force—just enough to knock it out of his hands or him unconscious.

"Oh come on!" I said to myself, hearing a familiar cry of a wild terror beast.

Darn it, just when I thought things were getting easier. The ground shook terribly like a horde of terror beasts were coming directly towards us at full speed. It was getting dangerous and the only way out of this mess was to stop Peter and try to flee. I glared back towards him, tensing quickly to launch a counterattack. Peter attacked and I dodged, getting in close with each swing. He was a terrible swordsman without his lightning speed. I really couldn't believe this guy had almost killed me before, which I now found amusing. I grabbed the wrist of his arm tightly and pushed his arm up.

"It's over," I said, as soon as I was in his face. "I really wished I could have saved you from yourself."

After finishing my sentence, I blasted him with a ballistic of proton bullets and he fell to the ground. It wasn't enough to kill him, but just enough to knock him out for at least a few hours.

"Darn you," Peter fell stiff and trembled violently. He tried to get up, but fell down and did not move again.

Stubborn idiot, he was definitely tough, that's for sure. Sweet revenge, it was not as satisfying to me as I imagined it would be at first. Peter had been defeated and yet I did not feel any joy or anything in my heart. I sighed out loud and looked away into the sky. The worst was not over. Clouds of despair and destruction were still reigning down on the kingdom. How many lives would be lost in this civil war for control? And now an army of terror beasts were close by and coming directly towards me. Could it get any more complicated? Slightly, I felt pain in my backside, as I was lifted off my feet and sent flying a few hundred feet straight ahead. The moment my head touched the ground, I lost all my strength in my body. I had been struck down by something, a bullet, perhaps. I closed my eyes and remembered nothing after that.

10

"This is just incredible," a voice I had never heard commented, "he is completely regenerating his cells, thanks to those neon alpha particles."

"Yeah, whatever," another voice growled in response. "We should just kill him now, before he becomes a real nuisance."

My eyes were closed the whole time these men were speaking. My head hurt and none of my limbs would budge an inch, like I was strapped down by steel rope. Just what had happened to me? The only thing I remembered was defeating Peter, and then something hitting and knocking me out. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked around at my surroundings. I was in a large building; I would say a grand laboratory, based on what was around me. The interior walls were covered with this magnificent and bright metal I had never seen before. There was a lot of mechanical devices and variety of chemicals, possibly, toxic and lethal. In front of me, two men, in mobile speed armor, were standing resolutely, holding really mid-grade military rifles. I felt their gaze glued directly at me. Who were they? They didn't appear or act like normal Rasian soldiers. I took a good look at them and noticed something odd. Their weapons, they were modern rifles made five years ago, definitely not alien tech.

"Now it makes sense."

The two men who were missing along with Peter were these guys. And one of them was responsible for knocking me out. Bunch of cowards, no wonder they got along with Peter.

"So you cowards joined up with Peter? I just hope whatever you did it for was worth it."

I turned my head and looked at my arms and legs. I was strapped down in some sort of metal container, completely immobile. Perfect, this day just kept getting better and better with each hour. It was now obvious that Peter wasn't under hypnosis or some kind or mind control device. He had made this choice by himself. I took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed out slowly.

"You are lucky, I took it easy on you," one of them said to me, walking closer, with his gun firmly gripped. He looked up at me and grunted out loud.

I couldn't see his facial expression since he was wearing his head gear. Speaking of which, it sort of resembled Peter's. They had definitely acquired new armor, and I was curious as to why. Something big was up—these guys were up to something bad.

"What are you talking about, Danack?" the other guy asked, marching peacefully towards us. "You shot him with your best bullet, but he just didn't die."

The second guy, there was something off about him. His voice sounded way too calm and relaxed in my presence. I observed him for a couple of seconds. Strangely, he gave off no personality traits in his gestures or movements. Who was this guy?

"Shut up, Roldo," the first man said and hit his partner on the head. "Do you want him thinking that he is invincible or something?"

"Well, you just told him that right now," Roldo said and shook his head.

"Ah! Darn I just did, didn't I?" Danack slapped himself on the face. "Well, it's not like he can do anything while he is strapped down to that machine."

Okay, never mind, these guys were idiots. I didn't know whether to ignore them or slap them in the face. Someone was making the plans, but it wasn't these guys, and certainly not Peter. A true mastermind, the fiend was hidden and controlling everything from the shadows. But where was he or she? It had to be someone influential enough to get Peter and his lackeys to change sides and betray us. Wait! Roldo and Danack! Those names sounded familiar to me, but I just couldn't pinpoint where I had heard them.

"So he is finally awake?" It sounded like Peter was finally conscious, or I had been asleep a lot longer than I thought.

No, I could still hear the noise outside, from gun fire to the clash of proton swords. I had been out for maybe two or three hours, give or take. Peter approached me quickly and punched me, "You deserved that one, Den. Did you really think I would come to the battlefield without backup? These two are the legendary cousins of destruction, the only two to have survived the battle of ONLI, ten years ago."

That's right! Now I remember, it's just that I never paid attention in class, but I'm glad someone did. As I seem to recall, it was said that two people out of a thousand survived a deadly battle, when the rebels attacked a decade ago. I don't remember the rest because I was sleeping during that class.

"Big deal," I commented, knowing truly that deep down, those two were not as stupid as they acted. Wait a minute! Roldo was a brilliant expert in nuclear physics. His intellect was almost superior to my own. On that note, Roldo's prowess and knowledge made him exceptionally gifted in building and destroying any type of generator or nuclear engine. Oh no, I stared at him as I realized something important. My body tensed in rage.

"So, Roldo," I chuckled to myself. "You were responsible for sabotaging our ship's engines and generators, weren't you? You almost killed us all."

He literally jumped back, alerting me that I was right. There was a long silence for a couple of seconds. Roldo laughed out loud, shifting his left foot in front. "So you figured it out? I am impressed; I honestly thought I got away with it. I mean, I left no trails, no clues, or anything. How did you deduce that conclusion? Please tell me?"

"It was simple," I said. "You two are famous—it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out. Besides, after betraying us, you made it easy for me rule out everyone else. Danack and Peter are idiots which leaves only you."

"How dare you," Peter rattled, coming to hit me some more.

Instantly, Roldo stopped him and calmed him down. He looked back towards me and glared without saying a word. "You did your homework well, simply worthy of appraisal. Even if you know that, it won't change a thing."

"So why did you guys do it? Why did you betray your planet?" I decided to push my luck a little further.

"I can't tell you," Roldo shifted away. "You wouldn't understand, even if I did."

"Try me," I replied quickly, not giving him time to change the subject.

"Enough of this nonsense," Peter interrupted and walked towards me. "It doesn't matter now, we have come this far and must proceed as planned."

I see! So I was right, these guys were preparing to do something big, and dangerous. But what was it? Who was involved? My best chance of finding answers was to talk to the lunatic causing all of this. I looked around and saw no signs of another life form in the building. But it felt like someone else was watching us; it was just a feeling I had in my stomach.

"I see the puppets, but where is the master?" I mumbled as I stretched my jaw a bit. I could still feel the stinging pain from Peter's punch.

"You have quite the perception," a voice finally spoke from the shadows. "You deduced my presence, even without seeing me."

I heard heavy footsteps coming from the left corner of the building. Someone was approaching.

Finally, it was about time he or she came out of hiding. I was curious to talk to this person—the true mastermind responsible for the terror beast invasion. Why were they doing this? What did they have to gain by destroying our planet? The thought of it all made my stomach clinch.

"You remind me of me, when I was young."

A man finally appeared out of the darkness and walked towards me. Whoa, I was surprised. He had been in front of me the whole time and somehow I had missed him? He wore a dirty white lab coat—in his hands, something that looked like a remote controller. The look in his eyes was unsettling. I had only seen these symptoms in text holograms. Shabby hair, dirty clothes, constant shaking hands, blurry red eyes, etc. If I had to guess, I would say he was having a psychotic breakdown. Not good! However, there was something about the way he glared at me that aroused my interest. He looked and talked to me like I was a long lost family member or relative. Good, a weakness I could exploit later.

"I was impressed with your sense of battle" he smiled, placing the device in his hands into his left lab coat pocket.

"Really," I laughed to myself.

It was hard to believe this man was the person responsible for all this destruction; he was just too scrawny and too simple to be considered scary. But one thing I knew from experience was to never judge a book by its cover. Wait! His face, it was familiar to me—I had seen this man somewhere before. I just couldn't tell exactly where I had seen him before; probably, because of the gray skin color. He resembled someone I once saw in my scientist history class pad. Darn! Why had I not paid attention in history class? Think! 6 years ago, pad in my hand, supposed to be studying, but instead, sleeping through class.

"Don't you know who this person is?" Peter smiled and spoke in admiration to the man who stood in front of me.

Even if he was some big time scientist, I had no respect for someone who hurt so many people by sending those terror beasts to earth. What made me even more furious was when he compared himself to me. That was degrading.

"I am nothing like you," I replied, without a trace of fear in my heart. "Your actions have hurt so many people and I can never do such a thing. How can you even live with yourself, after everything you have done?"

"Are you sure on that?" he looked directly at me.

It felt like his eyes were piercing into my mind for signs of weakness. No! How could he ask me that question? I could never hurt so many people like him, even if it's for revenge. It just wasn't in my nature.

"You have so much potential, Den," he continued and walked over to this big screen that showed a live video link of the entire kingdom. "I can't bear to destroy such an extraordinary talented young man like you. Join me and you can have anything you want; you just name it and it can be yours."

Seriously! How delusional did he think I was? No one could ever truly have everything they wanted, it was just a dream fools thought of.

"It's tempting, but I will refuse," I said and looked down, happy with my decision. The only thing I wanted to see were my family, friends and definitely Rose. Everything else in life just seemed unnecessary to me, at this point.

"What a fool," he turned his eyes aside and walked away. "Well, I have no use for you, if you refuse to join my kingdom. Perish with the rest of those fools and think about your actions in the afterlife."

After saying that, he vanished beyond a door and left me in the hands of three maniacs. My eyes lingered in the direction of his exit, filled with resentment. Darn! With my hands all tied up, I was at the mercy of Peter and his two goons, who seemed anxious to finish me off.

"I am glad you refused his offer. Now we can continue where we left off" Peter said, with a menacing grin on his face.

Oh crap, I could tell that I was in for a world of hurt, and honestly, I didn't know if I could endure it. I gritted my teeth and tensed my body in anticipation of his surprise assault. Out of time, I thought of something drastic—desperate man, after all. I had to buy some time to think of a plan of escape.

"Just what did you give that alien to get him to trust you?" I asked quickly before Peter could move in. "I mean, it's not like I am going to tell anyone."

They exchanged glances in silence. Roldo moved in close with his hand on his gun, and stopped, inches from me. "We gave him secret access codes."

"Access codes to what?"

My heart raced quickly. These guys were playing a high stakes game—I was certain the codes were government related. Their treachery knew no bounds.

"Access codes to Sigma 15, the biggest fortress city on earth," Peter snickered.

"No, you didn't," I rattled hard against my binds. "How could you do that?"

Sigma 15 was one of the last fortress cities still holding off the terror beasts on earth. It housed a population of at least 15 million people, almost a third of the entire earth population. I think my family and friends were there. I felt an intense urge to break free and bash these guys down.

"If I get out of here, you guys are going to be sorry."

"But you are not getting out of here," Danack added and removed the safety lock on his gun. "This time, you won't recover so quickly at point blank range."

Crap! He was right, there was no way to recover at this range or even duck out of the way. The adrenaline rushed to my entire body and I began to breathe heavily and uncontrollably. All three of them had their weapons pointed straight at me so close, I could feel the proton particles condensing. Just my luck!

"You should have," Peter said, but didn't finish as something powerful broke through the compartment, wreaking utter chaos.

There was a strong wind that blew across in all direction, sending small dust particles in my eyes. Peter and his goons jumped away from me, seeking cover. The lights flickered on and off in response to a powerful energy resonance. I closed my eyes for a bit and cried a little to get the tears to wash away the dust on my left cornea.

"Looks like you needed our help," Rick spoke through the com link.

Yes! Reinforcements had arrived, just in the nick of time to rescue me. Something metallic and powerful swooshed in and hovered next to me. I opened my left eye slowly and caught sight of the End Boss armor. What was it doing here? It was so dark and mysterious, it spooked me out a bit.

"By the way, the device I gave you was actually was central processor for that armor," Rick said and laughed a bit. "The old scientist told me not to tell you, because you would have refused to put it on, but I guess there in no point in hiding it now."

Yes! I knew it. I had been suspicious to the reason why Rick gladly gave me that power battery, when there were so many lying in front of me, in the armory. Rick and Ali had tricked me, but oh well, at least I was still alive. If I made it out of this alive, I was going to quit my job and go looking for my ex-fiancé, who was somewhere on earth. Yep, my mind was made up—no more crazy space biologist missions for yours truly. Whoa! I began to be pulled towards the armor by some unknown force.

"Stop him now," Peter yelled to his lackeys and began firing ultra proton bullets at the armor. Something like a force field repelled the bullets from me and the armor. It felt like the armor was alive. That was why I had been hesitant, in the first place, to put in on. My shackles broke loose as I was pulled in towards it. It opened up like a hatch and allowed my body to go through which was something new to me, before closing up. Creepy! Creepy! Creepy! My heart wrestled the fear crawling up my spine. Relax! I needed this power, even if it was from this terrible armor of destruction.

"Desperate man, after all," I encouraged myself as I warmed to the new armor.

Nothing else mattered—my only goal was to stop the mad alien from destroying earth. I gazed at Peter and his lackeys, the first target of my vengeance. They hid desperately from me while firing their rifles aimlessly. What were they trying to hit?

But at this rate, their bullets were going to penetrate the invisible shield. I readjusted my body comfortably to the armor and looked for the armor control manual. I had to be careful in the way I used it, otherwise, I would end up destroying myself along with everyone around me. Crap, the controls were far too advanced for my simple mind to understand. Were there instructions for dummies for this armor?

"Oh, there you are, finally," the old man said through the com link. "I was wondering when you would use the End Boss system. I guess it was a good thing I talked to Rick."

"I can't say the same thing, sadly," I said sarcastically, in a rude tone. "Any ideas on how to operate this new armor?"

"Relax and focus," he said and paused for a while.

"Really, that's your brilliant idea for me?" I asked a bit surprised; I was expecting a little more than that from him.

"Yes, I am serious," he finally replied back, "the End Boss system is an extension of your own body and thoughts. Think of it as another expansion of yourself, and the good parts is that, it is not hard to operate."

It sounded simple enough from his explanation, although a little complicated the more I thought about it. I sighed out loudly and inhaled a large breath of filtered air. With my mind focused, I knew what I had to do. My objective was absolute.

"I really hate you?" Peter growled, still firing his weapon at full force. "Don't think for one second that your armor can protect you from us."

I saw his bullets reflected away, barely even feeling them. Slowly, without fear, I descended towards the ground and fully tested my mobility to its limits. Time was essential—every minute was important to me. First things first, I looked towards Peter for a second, filled with intense anger.

"He really looks angry," Roldo said, pulling away his gun. He shifted away from the others, taking safety precautions in the process. "It's best if we retreat for now, and come up with a strategy."

Roldo's decision was wise, he clearly knew he was in over his head on this one. Pity he was just in with the wrong crowd—can't say the same for the two idiots next to him.

"Shut up, Roldo," Danack cut him off, sounding violent. "No one is invincible and I will show you."

Danack charged at me—he zigzagged into my blind spot, aiming for my head. I felt his fist clench, but did move. I was going to wait him out until he was close to counter. At the last minute, I automatically swerved out of harm's way without actually moving. It was so sudden; I didn't actually see myself shift at all. It was the armor, it just had to be. I didn't know how it happened, but it moved me without acting on command. Danack growled and rolled back on his knee, twisting the hill of his foot to attack again. His movements quickly increased, due to the speed boost from his armor. I saw him come, but my body didn't respond. Without delay, the armor took over, forcing my body to duck, vertically, in a leap. Weird, it felt like someone was controlling me. Oh no, I think this suit had another modified AI system, just great.

"Oh yeah, before I forget," Ali continued. "This armor came in with a built in AI more advanced than anything in your old armors and it doesn't talk that much. Try to get along with it, otherwise, bad things could happen."

"You tell me this now?"

What did he mean by that? The com link went offline as all I could hear now was static interference. Should have listened to my gut feeling, I knew this armor was bad news. Although, I was a desperate man and the armor had forced itself on me.

"This is impossible," Danack shrieked out of breath.

His helmet screen was foggy from his heavy breathing. I, on other hand, still had my full energy. After all, I had not used my body to dodge his attacks or anything, since the armor was moving on its own. I glared hard towards Roldo and Peter, who were hidden behind a metal barricade, watching me closely. For reasons unidentified, they were not attacking me recklessly like before.

"Resistance is futile," a voice in the armor said, talking to Danack. "Give up or prepare to be destroyed."

Who was that? Was it the AI? What a creepy cold voice, it sent chills to my bones. Danack soared up and launched an aerial assault, coming from an angle. It was impressive; I could tell that he was an expert in air combat. Suddenly, my right hand was up and an unknown energy power was surging up in the tips of my fingers. It was a massive build up of condensed positive energy, enough to level this whole building .This was getting too dangerous. I had let the AI take too much control over the armor. Nothing good would come out of this. Danack stopped, sensing the impending danger and backed away slowly. The surging power in my right hand kept growing more powerful and stronger as the particles compressed densely.

"No way," Peter commented, moving back a little. "It can't be possible. So the rumors of the End Boss of legends are true after all."

I had no idea what he was blabbering about. My mind was focused on one thing, and that thing alone. I wrestled with the AI over control of my right arm. Stubborn machine, it wouldn't respond to encrypted commands I was giving it. Desperately, I grabbed my hand with my free left hand and forced my right hand up, towards the ceiling. Honestly, I never assumed this was going to happen, especially at a time like this.

Think! The alien man (Ali) had mentioned that something like this might happen. His exact words skipped my mind completely, since I was in a midst of a struggle. However, I remembered him saying the suit reacted to my thoughts, like an extension of my body. If this suit reacted to my thoughts, then in the back of my mind, this was what I truly wanted, wasn't it? Was I truly this twisted?

No! I refused to believe it, there was still a lot of humanity left in me.

"Stop and give me control," I yelled to it, attempting to free my hand.

"Why," it replied to me, "isn't this what you want? To end all the skirmishing and bring an end to the invasion."

"No! Not like this," I said to it, "you can't end war with more war—otherwise the cycle will just keep going."

It didn't respond for a minute. "There is no rationale logic in that; further explanation is needed."

Of course! How could a machine understand human nature? But then again, neither did I. As humans, we acted and continue to act on free will and the pursuit of freedom. This in turn leads to war as people seek peace and liberty, it's very complex. It would take years to come up with a logical explanation a computer could understand—time I didn't have.

"I command you to give me control," I growled out loudly. In that instant, I gained mobility of my right arm. The power on the fingertips faded out slowly into nothing again.

"I will obey for now," it responded back to me in a cold voice. "Should danger threat level rise, I will assume control."

Of all the AI systems I had used, this was definitely the most free willed and obnoxious. Just what was Ali thinking? Building something this powerful and deadly was treacherous. It could take over my body or turn on me, there was just no telling.

"How did you get your hands on such a rare armor as that?" Peter asked, sounding almost jealous. "A simpleton like you doesn't deserve such a powerful suit in your possession. I will take it from your cold, dead hands, Den."

Abruptly, they all dashed at me at once, and attacked randomly in a guerrilla tactic. Their strategy was simply basic, nevertheless, brilliant. I couldn't predict their next moves at all. I hovered, gracefully, out of the way and sped on foot past a few lab machines. My best chance was to separate them and then fight them off one by one. Momentarily, they fell into my snare and separated, coming at me from different directions. There was a ten second window to fight one of them at a time, clearly not enough. The threat level scanner began to blink from the new helmet as it peaked up high. What would happen when it got too high? That's right! The AI system would take over and that was the last thing I needed on my mind, at that second.

Peter emerged first, swinging violently his neon blade at me. Danack was right behind him, waiting for a right moment to launch a surprise attack.

Crap, behind me was a metal slab, blocking my path towards the other exit. I couldn't afford to waste any more time messing with Peter and his goons. Quickly, I ducked back and side stepped to the right. Oh no, I waltzed into Danack's trap carelessly. Danack perfectly executed his body and launched a frontal kick, aiming for my right shoulder. I ducked down and surged everything I had into my fist, launching it at his face hard. My fist connected with his face, sending him flying back in the opposite direction. One down and two more to go!

Roldo sensed the danger and backed away; he turned his back against me, rushing off towards his cousin. I could have struck him with his back turned, but I decided not to. Darn you, conscience!

"Come back here, you coward," Peter said to Roldo and then turned towards me. "You might have a new armor and new weapons; however, you are still the same wimpy Den I knew and hated."

"True," I responded with a nod, "I want to thank you for almost killing me. If you hadn't done that, I wouldn't be standing here right now, looking down on you. I really feel alive and free for most accounts."

"Big deal, I don't care how you feel," Peter commented, bolting towards me to do battle once again. "But I know how I will feel, when I exterminate you and take that armor."

Stupid! Peter still didn't get it—there was a big difference in our power now. In this suit, defeating me was next to impossible. Plus, I had way more battle experience compared to him and a far better armor. He was careless, letting his emotions impair his reasoning. I dodged his strikes instantly, without landing a blow at him.

"The fact that you haven't wounded me means you haven't mastered that armor yet, have you, Den?" Peter straightened up, extending his arm into a flex. "In other words, the odds are still in my favor, since my armor was fixed."

True! I had not yet mastered the controls of this new armor. There were still much I had to learn; however, against a fool like him, there was no need. All I had to do was keep him riled up and angry. Eventually, he would self destruct and victory would be mine. Swiftly, he moved in for another attempt, leaving his left side open. His defense literally screamed with so many openings. Peter swung again, and this time, too wildly. As the blade passed on top of me, I moved in close and struck hard the power pack battery, with my elbow. There was a slight buzz from circuits breaking, as his movements became sluggish. I moved back and observed him briefly. Peter eventually slowed down to a point that his whole body could barely move. Second sweet vengeance and still not satisfied. Bummer!

"I'm going to leave you here, Peter," I said to him and turned my back towards him. I could tell that he hated this. "Your friends will find you, but I will be gone. I guess this is goodbye, my old foe."

"Darn it, Den," Peter screamed at me while motionless in stasis. "I will find you, and annihilate you."

"In your dreams," I laughed; it really felt good to have the last words in on him.

I truly hoped I would see him again, although as a better person. Oh what am I saying? Idiots like Peter never change; it would take a miracle for that to happen. Before I could exit the room, the ground trembled and shook as everything started to fall to the ground. I think this whole place was about to fall apart. I looked for an exit and found one, next to the south wall. Quickly, I grabbed Peter and flew up high with him, out of harm's way. He was kind of heavy, there were times I was tempted to just drop him and leave. Knowing him, he would have left me behind without a moment's spur.

"Why did you help me?" Peter growled at me. "I don't need any pity from you, Den."

Truthfully, I had no idea, it was just impulse. I looked towards the floor and saw utensils and lab machines fall to the ground. It was only a matter of time before this whole lab crumbled to the ground.

Just what was going on? We managed to make it out, only to walk into chaos. The scenery outside was a total disaster. This was catastrophic, a war of epic proportions. I gazed into the distance and saw two groups of people fighting: one was the Resistance and the other was the kingdom soldiers. Peter and I heard a loud growl and turned our heads backwards. Something was beneath the ground—something big and powerful. It came from the location of the secret lab. Suddenly, the whole ground burst apart like a great explosion had been detonated. It was powerful enough to send mild shockwaves into the sky. What was going on? I turned on my scanners and searched the whole area around it. Two beeps emerged, showing me two life forms—one was almost human and the other terror beast like.

"You are a very interesting child, Den," a voice shot out of the debris. "You had the chance to destroy your enemy and yet you saved him. You remind me so much of him."

It was the man from before, the mad scientist I wanted to stop.

"Dr. Drus Vegai," Peter said, admiring the man.

I was shocked to the bone; I took one good glimpse at him to be sure I wasn't mistaken. Now it all made sense. I recognized him, but the new gray skin had not done him any good. This man was one of the pioneers of the space age era—I honestly thought he died a long time ago.

"You have some nerve, wearing the armor that destroyed so many Rasian cities in the past," he rattled, while keeping his emotions in check. "You should give it to me freely as retribution."

Wait! Something was off; he was standing on something big, clearly unaffected by the planet's gravity. The thing beneath his feet moved gently. What kind of a terror beast was that? I trembled in my heels, unable to focus.

Relax! Relax! Calm down!

The alien mad man, aka Dr. Vegai, ran his left hand into his black hair softly. He had no helmet or armor, it was the same with Kristin and the Resistance. Rasians were really tough and strong, that much I was definitely sure of. As to his request, my answer was absolute.

"No way, I won't let you do what you want. I will stop you before you destroy the whole earth. You are..."

Before I could say anymore, something very huge growled and the whole ground shook. The giant monster shifted into visible light, displaying its sharp, powerful fangs. What a monster, way bigger than anything I had ever thought possible. How was this possible? Drus Vegai! Was this really the man I had adored, as a kid, growing up? His works were legendary in the science world. It was hard to believe this maniac was actually him? Just what happened to make him this way? Dr. Drus Vegai took something out of his pocket, similar to the crystal core and pressed it.

"Well, I will just have to take it by force then," he giggled like a crazy maniac.

He clearly had lost it. Nothing happened for a couple of seconds; I think he was trying to frighten me. It was then I heard the loud soars of a mini jet-like engine. It sounded like it was getting close. I turned my head left, and caught glimpse of a suit appearing out of nowhere and stopping next to him, opening like a hatch. Of all the crazy things in the world! The armor merged with him, allowing him full access to its operations systems.

"No way," Peter commented in amazement. "He has the War Boss system?"

"What's that?" I asked him, since I didn't have a lot of knowledge on special war armors.

"So you don't know. Well, it just means you are in for a world of hurt," he snickered and shrugged all over the place. "Will you put me down already?"

Gladly! The thought of dropping him down did occur to me, but I decided not to. I flew somewhere safe on the ground and put him down, but not too gently.

"Try not to move as much or the terror beasts will find you," I said to him and left, flying back towards the doctor.

My gaze turned south, catching sight of this huge gate, high enough to reach up into the sky. I was surprised that I had not seen it till now. Perhaps, it was camouflaged and you could only see it from ground level, possibly. If my guess was right, I would say that was the dimensional gate. The one we had to destroy at all costs.

"So that is your plan?" I said to him, once I was close enough. "You plan on sending these monsters to earth using that gate."

"Amazing," he sounded surprised and spooked a little. "How did you know about that? Oh, so you are definitely in league with those Rebels, aren't you?"

How did this man become so evil? Perhaps these 500 years on this planet could really change a person.

"You see this horde behind me," the doctor said, pointing to something behind him. "This is my ultimate creation, an army of havoc beasts or terror beasts, as you call them, with no weakness. I genetically engineered them to have no weakness to electricity and multiply at a speed way above their reproduction rate. The first batch I sent to earth was just a test run, but these monsters are my true vengeance. The earth is doomed once this horde reaches it."

He laughed so hard after speaking, that it almost sounded like thunder was roaring. I looked at his armor, studying it for any weaknesses. Sadly to say, I found none. More than likely, I would have to get in close and study him through close combat. Not the best decision in my opinion; nevertheless—unavoidable. I looked quickly behind him, looking for the horde of terror beasts he mentioned. At first, my scanners picked up nothing at all. Wait, I glanced even closer and saw a horde of terror beasts, completely motionless, about a few hundred feet behind him. Odd, my scanners couldn't pick up their residual heat signatures. Something wasn't right, there was no way to stop them all by myself.

"Destroy the dimensional gate, if you truly wish to end this," my AI said to me.

Not bad, it was actually brilliant. If I destroyed the gate, then his invasion plans would be thwarted. To get to the gate, I needed a distraction, something to keep the terror beasts occupied. To be exact, I needed a companion to aid me. But who would do it? One person came to mind?

"Can you connect me to the resistance's frequency com link?" I asked my AI as I came up with a plan.

"One moment," it replied and then displayed all the frequencies of transmissions on ground level.

As I scanned through them, I located Kristin's and tried to establish contact.

"Kristin, I need your help."

There was static for a while but then a voice said, "I am kind of busy at the moment. What do you need?"

"A distraction," I replied, arming my suit for frontal attack. I probably had one shot to execute this plan perfectly. "I have located the dimensional gate and I want to destroy it; I just need someone to keep the terror beasts he created busy enough to buy me some time. Here are the coordinates and please hurry, because there isn't enough time."

Strange! She didn't respond for a while. I guess she was either busy, or just didn't care. Dr. Vegai somehow sensed my desperation and began to move in slowly. In his new armor, my chances of winning were not good. I had no idea what weapons his new armor granted him, much less my own.

"I have sent a unit in that direction," she finally replied back after a few minutes. "Just keep the doctor occupied, and perhaps, I might be the one to destroy the gate."

"Will try," I responded and cut the com link connection. As far as I was concerned, it didn't matter who destroyed the gate. The only thing that mattered was stopping this maniac and his new batch of monsters from destroying earth.

"I once adored you as a brilliant scientist. You were one of the greatest weapons scientists on earth, I truly wanted to become like you."

He laughed so hard like I had said something stupid, "Wrong, I was and still am the most brilliant scientist in the world—I have acquired an infinite amount of knowledge and you can still be like me, if you want. In time, you will realize this: nothing is set in stone. Even someone as pure hearted as you can change in the face of war."

Wrong, the path I chose to follow in life was clear. I would never let revenge taint me into corruption like it had with him. Being a space biologist had been the best thing to happen to me, except for the time Rose left me. I wish I knew how it happened, but oh well.

"I will pass," I said and took an offensive stance. With my legs shifted, I could execute an aerial attack without putting too much strain on my body.

"So be it, Den," he replied me and took off into the air, headed in my direction.

So fast, there was no way I could defend an attack of that level—meaning my best option was a head on collision. I took off into the sky and charged, with my fists raised. The speed my armor generated was too much that it felt like my organs were going to fall off. Surprisingly, Drus Vegai matched me speed for speed; perhaps, he was a bit faster than me. Within seconds, we clashed out loudly, sending a blitz of punches and kicks in every direction. We kept at it for a couple of seconds, and then backed off to size each other up. I took long, deep breath of air—that was intense. At best, I was good for another two rounds.

"What's wrong, Den?" he asked with his arms folded. "Out of breath, already?"

True! My stamina levels were not on par with his and I was still learning how to use the suit. I tightened my abdomen and lowered my stance, preparing for another exchange of fists. Instead of his fists, he pulled out a revolver from his armor and shot a few rounds from it. Luckily, my AI took control and dodged me out of harm's way. Those revolvers, they looked similar to the ones I had, but couldn't use. Useless junk!

"That's it," I said to myself and took out my revolvers too. Before, I didn't have enough power to activate and use them, since they were high level weapons. But now, I had the End Boss; it was more than enough to activate them at full power. Or so I thought.

"Well, this will be interesting," he commented, raising his guns in the air. "You have assault revolvers, too; you truly intrigue my interest to no end. I want to see more of that power, Den, show it to me."

Crap, it was probably best not to tell him I didn't know how to use them yet. There was strange light coming from where his bullets had landed. Within seconds, massive explosions erupted, disintegrating everything apart. It literally split apart the molecules on the ground. Was that the power of his revolvers? Rick had them too and they had different abilities compared to his. I just wished I knew how to use mine.

"Automatic lock off," my AI said and suddenly my guns were glowing, "the reason you couldn't use them before was because they only work with this armor."

Oh! That made sense in a way. Didn't really understand it, but it was best not to argue with an AI system.

"If you are determined to stop me, then show me," Dr. Vegai put his weight forward, while extending him arms straight. "Show me everything that wonderful armor has to offer—don't hold back one bit."

This lunatic was out of his mind. There was no getting clear to him; revenge had corrupted him to a point of no return. Just what had happened to him? I tensed my whole body in reprisal and pressed forward. Well, he asked for it, so it was best not to disappoint him. Quickly, I pointed my guns at him and calculated his trajectory based on his speed, just enough to know what direction to fire.

"Is this what you want?" I screamed and fired the two revolvers at him.

There was a loud bang that sounded like thunder through the skies. The beam emitted from one of the gun was so intense it knocked me back a few yards. What the! I was sure the left one fired; however, nothing came out of it, which was strange. By some lucky break, I managed to knock the doctor out of the air, just for a short time. He landed roughly on the ground, creating a small crate of dust beneath his feet. Yes, it seemed I still had a chance after all. With this awesome new power, I felt like I could do anything.

"This is what I have been waiting for," he screamed up towards me, scratching off dust from his armor. "Finally, a worthy opponent to test my new abilities on."

What! Just what was he talking about? While he was rumbling on, I noticed the huge terror beast start to move. It was so massive and heavy, it changed the terrain with each step. That thing was too dangerous. Unleashed, it could go on a wild rampage, resulting in heavy casualties for both sides. Normal conventional guns wouldn't work on something that massive. I needed a level 8 or above weapon, like my revolvers. Only problem was that I had a few bullets left in my reserve. To complicate things even further, only one of them was working. But as long as the creature wasn't acting out, I could afford to keep my attention towards Dr. Vegai. He was the real head of the beast I needed to take down, if I wanted this invasion to end. I tightened my grip on both of my guns, preparing myself for another confrontation. All forms of thoughts and doubts bore down, causing me to hesitate for a second. What if I was just lying to myself? I truly thought I could end this war, but using violence was the worst way to do it.

"You caught me by surprise, but it won't happen again," he spoke, hovering slightly into the air.

His movements had changed drastically, like he was now a whole new person. "Do you know who wore that armor before you?" he continued as he made his way up to me in the sky.

His question puzzled as I didn't respond him—it almost sounded rude, like he was trying to make a mockery out of me.

"So they didn't tell you what the End Boss system really is?" he asked while reloading four bullets into his gun.

The whole time he spoke, my eyes were glued to his guns. I saw my best chance of attack in the interval between each reload. That was the only time he seemed vulnerable. I glimpsed even closer and noticed that his armor had taken slight damage from one of my guns. It wasn't enough to immobilize him since he could still move swiftly. Boy, this guy was tough—that last blast I shot at him had enough power to take out an assault ship, and yet it didn't faze him that much.

"It doesn't matter who wore it first," I screamed and reloaded my gun, hoping to put an end to this fight in four shots. "What matters now is that I have it and what I am using it for."

All that was just talk, the difficult part was backing my words up. I could tell that he sensed my desperation and fear.

"You are still naïve, Den," he said, rotating his head sideways. "Do you truly know what is going on earth? Just what did your superiors tell you? You seem to think you are doing the right thing, but you are wrong."

No, I wasn't wrong. Dr. Vegai was just saying all these words to confuse me, and to make me doubt myself. I shook my head, trying to sort away my uncertainty. Although, I had found a few things rather suspicious, to say the least. Something about this whole mission seemed out of place for the most part. I mean, we were not briefed on anything, and half of the crew was some of the greatest military elites. There was another motive to this mission, I suspected that greatly.

"Your world government is corrupted, Den," he said sincerely, like he meant it. "I will destroy that corruption, once and for all, and bring my kingdom back to earth, once there is nothing left."

"You are talking about killing millions of innocent lives," I growled and firmly gripped my revolvers in anger. "You are a monster, Dr. Vegai. How can you live with yourself after what you have done?"

He laughed out loudly and looked away in the direction of the gate, in an odd manner, "have you seen what I have done? I created peace on this planet; I gave them one mind and made them become united."

Really! Is this what he called unity? The only thing corrupt I saw was him.

"You took their freedom and liberty and used them like dogs to further your own ambitions," I rattled and burst towards him at full speed. His armor was very strong, but if I could get close enough, I could disrupt its system functions.

Dr. Vegai moved out of the way so swiftly, like he knew what I was up to and evaded every attack I made with my left hand. I didn't attack with my guns, since I wanted to reserve my ammunition for the perfect moment.

"There is no such thing as freedom," he said and blocked my attack, with his elbow like it was nothing. "It is an illusion created to fool people into thinking they are in control of their lives. Your government has truly sullied you young people to the extent that you are beyond help."

I started to get the feeling he had something against the government, and I was curious to know what it was.

"What did the government do to you to hate it so much?"

The doctor lowered his guard down and looked down like he was in remorse. Perfect! This was the only chance to attack him while his guard was down, but I decided to wait for some reason. Darn you, conscience!

"They took away everything I ever cared about," he said and looked up at me.

I couldn't tell if he meant it, since I couldn't read the expression on his face—because of the helmet he was wearing. "Do you know what it is like to lose everything? To live 500 years with that regret bottled up inside you, unable to sleep at night? Do you know what that feels like?"

No! I truly had no idea how that felt, and I didn't want to imagine how that felt like. Living without Rose, for these past 4 years, had been my worst nightmare—the world just felt sad and lonely for me. Like a piece of me had been stripped away from me.

"You are right," I whispered in agreement, "I have no idea what that feels like, but killing innocent people for your vendetta will not solve anything."

"You are just like the others," he said in fury and dashed towards me.

The sole of his foot connected with my stomach and sent me flying back first into the ground. It felt really painful like my insides had been turned upside down and swished.

"You all say the same thing, but you truly don't know what this emptiness feels like. Waking up to this cold reality everyday for five hundred freaking years is nothing, but torture."

Deep down, I could relate. The appearance of the terror beasts on my planet had marked the end of my nice boring life. I truly regretted not doing the things I liked while I still had the chance. All I knew was that my family was still alive somewhere on earth, and possibly, I would see them one day if I survived. I longed to see everyone I cared for, all this fighting had truly scarred what was left of my humanity. I wanted to laugh again and enjoy peace without worrying about terror beasts attacking. As I got up to my feet again, I realized there was no getting through to him. The man he once was had vanished, all that remained of his former life was filled with vengeance and destruction.

"If you truly wanted revenge, then why didn't you go after the people who took everything away from you? Leave everyone else out of it."

If he had done that from the start, he could have saved us all a whole lot of problems. It's hard to believe I said those exact words, nevertheless, I said them.

"Nothing is ever that simple," he said and descended down to ground level. "You have your reasons for fighting and I have mine. I truly wished you had joined me, but I can't force you to make that choice. It's obvious now that words alone can't settle this battle, so come at me with everything you got and I will do the same."

After saying that, he signaled the giant terror beast towards him and jumped up to its back gently. Not fair, there was no way I could win since it was two on one now. The huge beast dashed towards me at full speed and barely missed me, as I took off for the sky. It couldn't fly which meant I had the advantage, in terms of attacking and defending. What the! Something began to form from its mouth. It was like that time with the giant lizard I fought.

"Darn! I just can't seem to get any breaks," I said to myself and soared even higher, by transferring more power to my flight thrusters.

Based on my last encounter, there was no way to truly counter a guided laser beam. I could deflect it with an equal power or get out of its path within a microsecond of impact. Last one—impossible. Crap, the large creature was still compressing the laser even further, making it stronger and more powerful. It was then I realized it wasn't a real terror beast. More or likely, a machine, a robot created to imitate a terror beast.

"Great job," Kristin commented from the com link, "just keep him distracted. We are in the final stages of battle, it might be a while before the gate falls, but we will stop the invasion. Just keep doing what you are doing for now, and leave the rest to us."

Great! If I could keep it up for that long; at any second, that giant terror beast could fire the guided laser. I had less than seconds to come up with a solid strategy.

"There is no escape for you," the doctor screamed at me and I was able to hear it, thanks to the sensor enhancements in the armor. "This beam will find you, no matter how far you go, and destroy you."

He was right, there was no point in distancing myself. The beam could not be outrun, meaning I was wasting precious power. My best option for survival was to stop running and put all my power into strengthening my defense.

"Convert all power to the defense, now," I ordered my AI, getting ready to prepare a solid shield around myself. It was then I realized that conserving ammunition was useless if I was dead. So, I had to attack first before it launched the beam.

With my posture completely changed, I pointed my guns towards the beast in order to counter it and decrease the damage. I could only hope my left gun was going to shoot something in time, instead of what happened last time. Instantly, the large terror fired without warning, catching me off guard. I could barely see the beam come towards me.

"Oh crap," I panicked, tightening my stomach.

Immediately, I countered back with my guns, aiming directly into the beam. Again, only the right gun fired while the left revolver shot another blank. Stupid dud! The two beams collided, in mid air, and sent massive opposing shockwaves in different directions. The wind generated forced me back in a defensive posture. In that short brief movement, I moved out of harm's way, and soared down at lightning speed to attack them while they were still distracted.

"It is futile," the doctor snickered and the large terror beast shot another beam from its mouth at me. "All your words and petty actions are useless against the power of my inventions."

Darn! Perhaps, I had been too hasty in attacking. Regrettably, there was no way to avoid this incoming beam judging by how fast I was going.

"Activating shields at 100%," my AI said and a massive barrier of energy formed around me. The blast connected with the shield barrier, nullifying some of its destructive power. It wasn't enough to stop it, since some of it got through—connecting physically, and burning a hole in my armor.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

It felt like I had been branded on my left pectoral muscle. I was knocked back up, into of the sky, with no control at all. I kept spinning up further into the sky with no clear projective path. "Reverse the flow by nullifying it with the back thrusters, at full power."

This was a risky plan, one instant mistake and that would be the end of it.

"Command acknowledged," the AI responded and activated the back thrusters at a constant increasing speed.

My movements began to slow down, bit by bit, until I completely stopped further past the hot zone. I was a bit far east, but still close enough to hear the fight. In the final stages of the conflict, anything was possible. Nothing was left to chance anymore. But still, that was some hefty thinking on my part. By reversing the flow, I managed to nullify my anticlockwise rotation, with an equal and powerful clockwise force. Had I not thought of that, I would have been a goner by now. I guess I was smarter than I thought.

Darn! As long as he had that terror beast, it was almost impossible to get close to him. My best chance was to separate him from it. To do that, I needed some help. No, it was just too dangerous, since none of my allies had enough fighting power to be on par with that giant monster. But what could I do? I pondered for a second as I hovered up above the sky, thinking of my next plan of attack. "Darn it," I screamed as two more beams approached directly for me at a great speed. I evaded and maneuvered out of the way, but they turned around and came straight back at me. I tried desperately to outrun them just to be certain—useless plan. They followed behind me, gaining distance with each second.

"So, that's how it is," I said to myself, as I came up with a brilliant, although stupid plan. If these beams followed me everywhere I went, then I could use them to my advantage. I redirected myself into the direction of the mad doctor, my heart racing wildly. In all honesty, it was a better plan than anything I could possibly think of at that time.

"I got a gift for you," I yelled to him, descending down at an increasing speed, using the massive gravity of the planet to hurl my whole body far beyond the sound barrier speed. "I want you to have this."

The giant beast was too slow to counter as I landed on its back so fast and dangerously, I almost broke my back.

"What are you doing?" the doctor asked and then looked up at the incoming energy lasers. "Oh no, what have you done?"

"Sorry, no time to talk," I responded and jumped off before the two beams collided on the terror beast's back, within fractions of seconds.

There was a huge explosion, followed by a chaos of heavy shockwaves that knocked me down, a few yards away. The ground where the terror beast once stood collapsed completely, sending it underground in a blaze of fire. Yes! My plan had worked and it seemed I had killed two birds with one stone. All in a good days' work—I might add to that. And I did it without even breaking a sweat.

"That was brilliant," someone emerged from the fire. "I never thought you would use its greatest weapon against it, you truly have exceeded my expectations, Den."

Getting praised by him did feel somewhat good; after all, he used to be my idol. With the creature gone, it was just him and me now.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I have somewhere to be and a world to destroy," he smiled and raised his right hand. "It was indeed fun playing with you; however, all good things must come to an end, my friend."

His armor seemed to be feeding his right revolver energy and making its destructive power greater. Amazingly, an astounding excess of power was flowing dazzlingly into his bullet chamber cylinder, causing a glowing effect. This was bad.

"Threat levels rising." my AI said and kept repeating that phrase for a good long while.

I backed away and tensed greatly in gruesome anticipation. His attack range had increased greatly, meaning there was no way I could dodge or flee. Dr. Vegai's movements changed, he was ready to go on the attack. I moved away even further, feeling a slight dim of fear up my spine. Out of the blue, the huge gate began to fall to the ground and explosions followed its collapse. I took my eyes away from him and looked towards the heavy explosions. Had they done it finally?

"No, what have you done, you fools?" the doctor screamed, clenching his revolvers tightly in anger. "You have just destroyed all my plans and decade's worth of work."

Yes! That was the plan. Without that gate, he couldn't mount any invasions anytime soon—I was sure of that. I looked back at him, with a moderate feeling of hope in my heart. Despite the danger he posed, I felt like I still had a chance of victory.

"Get out of there," Kristin yelled to me, "that entire place is going to get destroyed by the aftermath of the explosion, once that gate falls."

Crap, the explosions were slowly building up and coming heavily towards us. I could feel the heat all the way from where I was hovering. Oh no, the debris of the gate was falling in our direction, too. I needed to flee, but there was one thing in my way. It was the doctor. The moment I turned my back to flee, he would fire his gun and I would be vaporized instantly. What luck!

"You ruined everything," he pulled off his helmet with ease.

His facial expression had completely changed and he seemed like a mad dog. Oh man! It didn't look good for me; either the gate was going to crash me or the doctor would blast me.

"Get out of there, Den,' Kristin screamed to me, although it was now beyond my control.

The doctor blitzed and attacked me relentlessly without pity. His movements were wild, but none of his actions were wasted. He maneuvered swiftly, moving idly like a shadow in the wind. Although reckless and wild, the doctor's punches connected and hurt badly. I rotated on my axis and spun to the right, to get away from him; however, he did not give me the chance to counter as he kicked me in the stomach. I punted out loud and clung onto my dear breath.

"You are good, for a kid, but I have 500 years of combat experience," he laughed, grabbing my chest plate, raising me up. "You are way too young to face someone of my caliber. If you were a few decades older, you might have stood a chance."

Darn! I grunted and struggled to get free from his incredible power grip. In terms of power and experience, my abilities were a far cry compared to his. It was like he knew all my moves and could easily counter them without the slightest effort. I had no idea why my AI, which seemed eager to help me before, was not taking over to fight for me. Stupid machine!

I felt the fires getting close, their intensity burning powerfully. The gate was still falling towards us, and I was trapped. Dr. Vegai pointed his gun at my forehead and got ready to pull the trigger. But before he could administer the final blow, pieces of the giant dimensional gate fell towards us, and exploded inches away from our bodies. One of the debris pieces fell between us and separated his clutch away from me. We fell towards the ground, engulfed in a massive bowl of flames. The energy of the flames was intense and so great—it didn't feel like it was normal fire. Everything around me turned orange red, the color of the flames and went quiet. Was this how it was going to end? Oh well! It wasn't so bad since I was taking the person who caused this entire mess with me. I faintly closed my eyes and let the flames take me into the abyss.

"Rose, I wish I could just see you one last time," I whispered, raising my hand to touch something in what appeared to be empty space. "Does she even still remember me?"

It had been four years ago; I truly wanted to know the answer to that question, which seemed to be the only thing that kept me going. My mind began to fade away like everything around me was disappearing into nothingness. I slowly closed my eyes and thought of my happy place, a place where I truly felt joy. "Hmm! That's nice."

11

There was a sound of water flowing down a stream or river. It was so soothing and calm, like a quiet storm. The gentle smell of flowers and leaves dropping down from trees reminded me of home. I slowly opened my eyes and yawned out loud like I had awakened from a dream. The clothes I was wearing were so soft and truly felt comfortable pressed against my skin.

"Wait a minute," I said, starting to realize something was off. "Where am I?"

Where was my armor? Was this a dream? The last thing I remembered was being blown away when that dimensional gate fell down at us. Was I still alive? And where was I? This place, it looked peaceful and yet almost familiar. The grass was so green and the trees ever so comforting that my anger and guilt seemed to wither away. I got up from where I had been sleeping and stretched my arms and legs. I had no idea where I was, so I decided to explore this new wonderful place. Compared to the environment on Erzat, this place was paradise. There was no fighting, it was just me and nature, bonding peacefully in harmony. As I started to walk, I came across a door that instantly caught my attention. It said, "Rose," like the one in my other odd dream. Whoa! I halted, completely taken back. "Not this again."

Should I open it? The temptation to do so was too great, almost overwhelming. Was this the right time to know? I really wanted to know what happened to her and whether I was to blame. Still! How could I not remember the last thing she said?

I mean, she was dear to me and yet the memories of her seemed to come up blank, like someone had erased them from my head. Wait! If I opened this door, I would know; but on the other hand, something just felt wrong. Another door, which was the way out, appeared in front of me. I had a choice and two doors to choose from. Could I truly walk away from the truth again and never know what happened to Rose?

"When the time comes, you will know," a part of me said, it was alarming but to be expected. Knowing the truth now would only hinder my performance on the battlefield—which was something I didn't need at the moment. From the bottom of my heart, I knew we would be reunited one day, but now, was just not the time. I hesitated for a bit as I tried my best to not open the door, using every inch of willpower I had. The tempting chance I had been given seemed too great to pass on; however, I knew in my heart that now was not the time to search for what I had lost.

"I will find you, I promise," I said and ran directly to the exit, without looking back.

Would I regret this later? Possibly! After all, this was the second time I had walked away from knowing what I truly wanted to know. In a strange twist of events, I was up. I was not dead at all, which was surprising. Painfully, my whole body felt cooked—an unbearable discomfort passed through my body, every time I moved.

"The armor shields managed to protect you from harm," the AI commented, briefing me on the diagnostic status. "You are running at 60% below maximum."

Suppose it could be worse. I mean, I was still alive but the worst was yet to come. For all I know, the crazy Dr. Vegai had survived and could come and attack me again. I scuffled to my feet, looking around closely at the damage. The level of destruction was calamitous. An incredible amount of debris from the gate was scattered everywhere I looked; it was creating a gas-like mist of obnoxious fumes that made it hard to see anything. It must have been some impressive device Kristin used to create an explosion of this magnitude. Had it not been for my AI system, I would have been dead.

The only problem I was still having was staying away from the fumes and the fire that seemed to be still blazing close by, ravaging everything to ash. Such flames, I didn't think it was possible, but apparently I was wrong.

"Everything all gone, all my life's work destroyed," a voice said, in a tone with mixed emotions. "And it's your entire fault, Den, you did this to me. You are just like the people who took everything away from me."

"No way, it can't be," I said, sort of surprised, "how could you still be alive?"

Why was I so surprised? For some reasons, villains somehow always managed to come back for more, well, according to the movies I used to watch. I had a feeling the doctor was still alive, but I hoped I had been wrong—just this once. Fighting him was the last thing I wanted to do at this point. Nevertheless, it had to be done.

"You are just like them," he screamed and rushed at me, at full force. He blazed out of the fire at lightning speed, with his guns raised up at me.

"The War Boss system gets more powerful in the brink of battle," my AI added, giving me a heads up.

Wait what! Meaning Dr. Vegai's power had intensified to epic proportions—flushing all my hopes and chances of victory down the drain.

"And you are just telling me this now?" I asked with an expression of shock. This was something I really should have known at the beginning of battle.

"Well, you never asked," it said and then went silent completely, which sort of annoyed me a bit. But it was true, it was my fault for not asking. After all, an AI was a machine not programmed with human emotions. Even if I knew, I doubt it would have changed anything in this gruesome battle. The doctor approached fast and fired a few bullets at point blank. With the help of my AI, I dodged every single one of them, by flying out of the way at an even greater speed. The toll on my body was massive: total fatigue and aggravating pain were starting to wear me down. Dr. Vegai somehow sensed my extreme anxiety and further intensified his actions to eradicate me. He matched my speed and fired with distinct accuracy, it was almost like he could predict my trajectory before I even did it.

"How do I stop it?" I asked my AI out of options. Due to exhaustion, my mind could not fully function and analyze the situation rationally. There had to be some way to stop this berserk mad man.

"Power up the left revolver to 100 percent," it replied me, reeling my mind into utter confusion. "Your left gun only activates when enough flux energy has been capitalized."

"Really, I wish I had been told that sooner." I growled, steadily rotating my body out of his firing range. "How long will it take to gather enough power?"

The AI calculated for a little while, without answering. I took that time to gain even more speed, further amplifying the pain to my body greatly. Even in this day and age, there was still a limit of g force a human could take. I think I had broken through the limit seconds ago. Even so, the mad doctor kept up with me without falling far behind. I had to say—Rasians were really something.

"Approximately 14 minutes, at the least."

"No, that's too long," I grunted, looking back.

This maniac was not going to give me the chance to charge up the revolver. I glanced away and suddenly noticed something peculiar.

"What is that?" I said and looked towards the other side, where the gate had fallen. My scanners were picking up large heat signs, coming from burning creatures that seemed to be immobile.

"You have ruined everything," Dr. Vegai screamed out.

Like a total idiot, I stopped, peaked by curiosity. He was acting uncultivated and out of control. The look on his face was almost beast in nature. He moved swiftly and attacked without warning, catching me completely off guard. I saw his punch connect with my helmet, but did nothing to stop it. So fast, I couldn't counterattack or move out of the way in time. My head rolled like it was going to come off completely, while I fell backwards, headed towards the ground. Instantly, he then proceeded to grab my leg and throw me up into the air like a light feather. Everything was a big blur for a few seconds; I couldn't comprehend what was going on around me. What a punch, it was definitely worthy of appraisal. After a few more seconds, I gained control of myself and stopped halfway in the air. Man, this crazy man was out of control. The longer this battle lasted, the worse things could get for me. I looked back and was directly stung by a ray of bullets. Fortunately, my shields stopped half of them, while the others got through my defense. They were painful and mind blowing, but I held on, putting everything I had on my final and last hope of victory.

"Charge the revolver to full power," I ordered my AI, while placing both arms in front of my face.

The shields had stopped working, since all the power was being diverted into my gun. Persistently, Dr. Vegai did not stop his assault. He kept firing bullets at me, moving in every direction at the speed of sound. All I could do was just endure it for now, and try to avoid the worst.

"Everything is all gone. All my life's work, my creations, and my invasion plans. But it's not too late; I can rebuild everything with years, of course, and destroy earth as I planned before. Yes, it can be done."

No way! He was still trying to destroy earth, even when his plans failed? He was relentless, to a point of annoyance. I kept my arms clenched in front, taking his merciless physical abuse. This man was out of control, his psychotic rage was making him irrational and increasingly violent.

"Do you think you are the only one with problems?" I yelled and blitzed to the left, with my arms still in front. I soared out of range, trying to buy my AI more time.

I gazed back and saw him following me with his guns extended in front of him. Impressively, he reloaded and fired at quick intervals with such precise accuracy, it was scary good. If it wasn't for the fact that I was moving all over the place, it would have been over for me already. "Because of your terror beast invasion, I lost things that were dear to me, too," I continued, while surging horizontally at even greater speed. Crap, I had doubled the amount of g force I could tolerate. Thankfully, I was flying horizontally and not vertically. Vertical g force was less tolerable and more dangerous—better avoided at all costs. I took in a deep dose of air, thinking of Dr. Vegai. I just couldn't hate him as much as I would like to.

"Destroying you, Dr. Vegai, would not bring any justice to me, and to the people you have hurt. Seeking revenge will not reverse anything, nothing good comes from it. I feel your pain, but this isn't the right way to do it."

"Really now," he laughed, mocking me. "Then tell me what the right way to do is?"

Good question, I had not thought of that far yet since I never figured he would ask me that question.

"Forgive and let go," I said with compassion. If there was still a chance to save this man, then I was willing to take it. I had once adored him as a kid; he was, after all, the person who inspired me into the science field.

"Never," he screamed back to me with a response filled with fury. "I will never forgive them at all, I will plunge their world into chaos like they did to my family and country."

What! What was he talking about? Man, this guy was out of his mind. He stopped following me and hovered motionlessly in the air. Stupidly, I stopped fleeing, completely taken over by curiosity. Bearing down on me was an intensified feeling of fatigue and pain. I knew, I needed to keep moving, but something deep was stopping me. My words had finally pierced hard into Dr. Vegai's heart, and I was waiting to see what he would do next. Surprisingly, Dr. Vegai dropped his guns all the way to his waist, tilting his head down—there was a discern look of anger written on his face.

"Some of the world government's leaders you adore so much ruined my life and that of my people, forcing us to live off this nightmare planet. I lost my family, my friends, and thousands of my kinsmen, and I want them all to pay. I want vengeance for my brethren and the good name of Ras restored."

Just what was he saying? Something about his new story didn't make sense to me. Well, in all honesty, we heard Ras was a terrible place, the instigator in the Third Planetary War. Rumors were that they were selling weapons to everyone which resulted in all countries hating them. When the entire world turned against them, they fought back for an entire two years, against an armada of soldiers. No one knows how, but the entire kingdom disappeared or just vanished off the face of the earth, that is until now. Oh boy, this was starting to become messy. The new information I was acquiring did not correlate with what I was told. So what was true and what was false? I really wish there was a third party to circumvent these stories for me. Not that I believed any of his stories.

"But you were selling weapons to the terrorists," I said without thinking. He was still hiding some more important information, and I was willing to risk it to acquire the information. I descended down, a few feet, while watching his facial expression, trying to anticipate his next move.

"Do you really believe that was true?" Dr. Vegai said, gazing back at me with piercing eyes. "I gave my life's work to the world. I spent my entire life trying to better humanity with my inventions and technology, but look at how they repaid me. My son, my wife, everyone I ever loved all died during that incident, five centuries ago. How can you tell me to forgive and forget? You don't know how I feel, you have no idea what it feels like to harbor this much hatred in your heart for five hundred long years."

"You are right," I said sincerely. "I have no idea what that must feel like."

Everything he said only made me feel some sympathy for him. Perhaps, there was truth behind his story; I could tell by his emotions and reactions. Those tears and those words, he clearly appeared to be telling the truth. Part of me wanted to believe him, although I knew he was my enemy. What should I do? I was diving deeper into mysteries I couldn't begin to phantom possible. However, it brought further questions to surface. Concerning, mostly our reason for being here on this planet. What were the further anomalies our superiors found? Surely, it couldn't be the crystal core, could it? Was anything the mad doctor was saying true? I sensed a dark secret motive behind our mission to this planet. This was getting interesting, I had suspected there was something up and it looked like I was right. This top secret mission stuff was more of a diversion for something much sinister and really bad, but what? My hunch told me that the doctor knew what it was.

"You know the reason behind them turning on you, don't you?"

The once gloomy face of his turned into something like a smile as he said, "you are really smart, Den, I will give you that. Indeed, there is a reason behind what they did to us and it wasn't about the weapons or technology. 500 years ago, the kingdom of Ras created what you might call the fountain of youth drug. It was a genetic altering drug that could make you stay younger for as long as you wanted and not age or weaken in strength at all. This drug was too valuable, and too powerful for the whole world to know. We hid it, but the world leaders somehow discovered our secret, and wanted us to share it with them. But we refused, knowing full well what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands. That was when everything fell apart and stories about us began to emerge, making us the enemy of the entire world. After struggling and fighting a brutal battle, we had no choice, but to escape off the planet through the dimensional warp gate. We found ourselves here, stranded, and completely surrounded by these powerful creatures. Horribly, a good number of my allies lost their lives in the battle with these creatures. It was terrible and all the memories of that year are imprinted into me, forever haunting me in my dreams. Now you know most of the truth, so what is your response?"

Whoa! He had said a mouthful and I had no idea how to respond to him. That was an intense story—I had no idea whether to believe him, or keep believing what my superiors told me.

Something like this was far above my pay grade; maybe someone else should answer him because I had nothing. I hovered there, silently, feeling down and sad for this man who had suffered so much. Given five hundred years or so, his fate would be my fate.

"To tell you the truth, I have no answer," I replied back to him and looked away. My posture changed a bit, once I got all my thoughts together again. "I can't give you the answer you want from me, but I am truly sorry, on behalf of everyone on earth. If it is revenge that you seek, then you should have gone after the people who did this to you in the first place, who are probably dead by now. We are a new generation and had nothing to do with what happened to Ras, okay? Please let it go, Dr. Vegai."

He laughed out loud and put his right hand on his forehead in shock, "you are right, you are indeed a new generation; however, those leaders from 500 hundred years are still on earth, in hiding somewhere. If I destroy everything on earth, I will flush them out and then get my revenge."

Despite losing his army and pets, he was still bent on revenge. I took a deep breath and realized that all my tendons were hurting. I needed to keep him talking, to allow myself more time to rest. Besides, my revolver needed more time to charge up to full power. I thought carefully, deciding on what my next questions would be. My goal was to keep him talking.

Dr. Vegai mentioned something about his enemies being alive. The mere thought of it was bending my perception of reality. How could these people be alive? Why had no one ever heard about any of this? Seriously, these people had to be over 500 hundred years of age if they were really real.

"Wait, don't tell me they," I gasped, in shock, as a thought occurred to me.

Dr. Vegai nodded and looked at me, "they somehow managed to get a hold of a few of our drugs, before we teleported off earth. By my guess, five or six of them are still alive on earth, giving orders in the shadows."

Was this really true? Could I believe him? Darn! I mean this was the man who had invaded earth with his terror beasts. He was my sworn enemy and I needed to defeat him, but now I didn't know what to believe. I wish someone would tell me what to do or something. The reality I was facing was cruel, but I had to make a choice now, and act on it.

"I understand," I said and gripped my guns tightly. "I will bring your story to light, if it is true, to the world. However, I have to stop you now for all the crimes you have done to the earth."

My resolve had now changed completely; I was acting on something more than impulse and instinct. The world deserved to know the truth, and I was determined to see that through. But who were the old leaders? I had never seen or heard of them. How had they hidden for so long? This situation was going to get chaotic very soon. Just what was I signing myself up for?

That being said, there was something I needed to do first. It was going to be hard, nevertheless necessary. The man I saw before me was no longer the man I adored as a child. That person was gone, revenge had consumed him to a point of no return. It had rooted itself deep into the core of his being—nothing except an empty shell of his former self hovered in front of me. The thought of it all made my stomach swirl. Had I not known who he was, it would have made it less painful to battle him. Still, I had to do it for the sake of everyone back on earth. That was my reality.

"I am glad to hear you say that," he smiled and proceeded to put on his helmet back on. "Let's see which of us has the strongest resolve, Den. This shall be our last bout and one of us will fall."

Crap, my body hadn't fully recovered completely. Despite the nerve wrecking pain in my abdomen, my fatigue had decreased. I tightened my guard and locked my knees at an angle. It looked like this was it. We were both going to lay all our last cards on the table in one last final round.

"I am also glad I got to meet you in person, Dr. Vegai," I said, reloading my right gun quickly. "You were my inspiration growing up as a kid. I truly wanted to become just like you, when you were still on earth."

"You flatter me, Den," he responded not sounding too angry or resentful. "I am happy that we had this talk, it's nice to know that someone listened to my pain and anger and didn't judge me too roughly. I wish we could have met on better circumstances, we could have been friends, but it can't be helped. What happens in the next few minutes shall determine both of our futures. Now prepare yourself, Den, I am coming at you with everything I have."

Quickly, I tightened my guard and placed one foot back. He launched himself at me now with an even greater speed and agility, almost fast like lightning. Darn, this was going to hurt. I followed suit and rushed towards him, maximizing my speed beyond my past limits. This was our final battle, I had to show him how serious I was. Two minutes before impact, we both clipped back our revolvers and came at each other with our fists. At the speed we were going, bullets were less effective and I did not want to waste them. Once we clashed, we just kept punching and kicking, unable to stop, realizing once we stopped, it was over for one of us. All the talking had stopped now, our fists and kicks were doing the talking for us until otherwise. We had both said our last final words to each other so there really was nothing more to say after that. The fire that came from the burning gate clouded our vision for a bit but it didn't stop us from fighting. Although, it was getting kind of hot, it felt like we were fighting in an oven.

"Is it almost ready yet?" I asked my AI, talking about my left revolver that seemed to be still charging.

"2 more minutes," it responded to me and went completely silent.

"That's too long," I responded, beginning to flee from a barrage of bullets from his left revolver. He had unsheathed one of his guns at point blank, hoping to catch me off guard. I saw his ploy in time and evaded hastily. Amazing, he was deadly accurate even when I was moving at the speed of light or close. Two minutes seemed like eternity to me, in this high paced battle to the end. Wait! I sensed something different about him. I had noticed that his speed and strength had drastically improved, but something else was up. Was he getting more powerful? Every passing minute seemed to make the difference in our battle power grow significantly wide. Suddenly, he vanished quickly out of my sight. I looked right and left and could not find him. It seemed, the longer I dragged this battle, the more difficult it was going to be for me. He appeared right behind me and shot a barrage of four bullets in my blind spot. Thankfully, my AI took over and I managed to evade with only a scraped chest plate. I retracted back and began to work my next strategy. True enough, he was obviously more experienced in battle than I was. Darn! And a better and faster shooter—if I might add.

Again, he vanished out of my sight. I tightened my guard and lowered my stance, preparing for anything. His speed, it was like he could move like... I paused at that thought and hovered out of my comfort zone, scanning around.

"Where is he?" I was outclassed in speed and strength, as well as experience. Clearly not good odds for someone hoping for victory.

"Left revolver at 100%," my AI finally gave me some good news.

The left gun was emitting a glowing red light as it resonated with a high pitch tone. The intensity and force being expelled was enough to rekindle my hope for winning. I had one shot with this gun—it had to be precise, if there was any chance for me to get out of this situation alive. What if I missed? I forced that thought away and focused on everything around me.

Something suddenly hit me in the upper back, and on my left hamstring, causing me to lose my balance. I gasped for breath and closed my eyes for a second. Before I could recover, tiny powerful objects expelled their extreme forces onto my back, sending me into an unwanted descent. Completely caught off guard, I had no way to evade or counter at all. I crashed headfirst into the ground, creating a crater in the process. Every fiber in my body screamed at me, but I got back up and charged to attack: "This is getting old."

Darn! He had vanished again and my scanners were having a hard time trying to keep up with him. It was almost like he was everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. Could the human body handle that much momentum? I could have gone that fast too, but speed of that caliber was something that could destroy my body. Accounting for the planet's gravity, plus speed, no mere human could take that much horizontal and vertical g-force. That being said, Dr. Vegai wasn't a normal human being, so those facts were irrelevant.

"Tracking down movements," my AI mumbled, trying to keep up with the War Boss system that seemed to be all over the place.

It was hard to read his movements or to determine where his next location was going to be, because his speed allowed him to be literally everywhere at once. I took off into the sky and increased my speed while leveling up. Instantly, Dr. Vegai switched to a frontal assault pattern, attacking me more ferociously than before. I could sense a slight mix of desperation and anger in his attacks. He was trying to finish it quickly now for some reason. All I could do was block my head and pace forth out of his attack range. I was waiting for an opening, the right moment when his guard was down to shoot him with my left gun. Something suddenly hit me and exploded directly on my arms, sending a shockwave through the air. I felt disoriented and dizzy as the blast knocked me out of the sky, causing me to propel out of control. One of his bullets had managed to get through my defense and taken out one of my flight thrusters. My hopes of victory were starting to dwindle slowly unless... the thought that came to me was one of out a desperate man's handbook. It was my only option at this point. As soon as I crashed to the ground for the second time, I got back up again, ready to initiate it.

"Geez! What is your body made out of?" he asked, descending slightly into my hearing range. "You just won't go down, will you?"

"I won't, sorry," I clenched my fist tightly. In the final stages of our battle, I couldn't afford to throw in my towel.

Nothing more than simple logic was pushing my body this hard. For once, my heart and mind were on the same page. Dr. Vegai had to be stopped. I felt terrible; I never thought I would have to defeat the person I once admired. He had once been my role model as a kid, and now, he was a raging mad man—a man who had fallen deeply into darkness.

"Increase output power to maximum," I took a gamble and ordered my AI into taking a risky move.

Desperation led me into thinking like a suicidal maniac. But this was bigger than me, it was bigger than anything I had ever faced. For my plan to work, I had to put my life on the line, to gamble everything I held deeply and longed to have. There were things I wish I could have done before; however, it was too late now. I couldn't live in the past, only look into my future. Steadily, I pulsed myself and took hold of my posture.

"It ends today, Dr. Vegai, one way or the other."

I rushed in quickly and jumped up, proceeding to attack first, not giving him a chance to vanish again. Before I even realized it, I was directly above him, left fist extended forward. He saw through my attack pattern and evaded easily without the slightest bit of trouble. Shifting left, I twisted on my axis and proceeded to follow up with a left hilt kick. Again, he dodged out of the way and hovered within my attack range. Rats, he was making a mockery of my efforts. Irritably, I lashed out furiously and lunged onto nothing. So fast and agile, it was hard to catch him. But I did conclude one thing, using my left gun without a proper plan was going to fail. Meaning I had to wait him out and analyze his movements carefully. Eventually, he would make a mistake and I would take advantage of it.

"Your logic impedes you, Den," Dr. Vegai said, hovering down faintly vertical. "You are blinded by your ability to strategize everything that you make it easy for me to predict your next move."

"Shut up," I rattled in fury. "I will still win this, even if I lose my life in the end."

"So this is your choice?" Dr. Vegai sniffed silently. "Let's test it against mine and see who will come up victorious."

That was the plan, and I wished he would stop saying the same phrase over and over again. It defeated the purpose of saying the final words before the last round of battle. Rotating quickly, I unclipped my right gun and shot a series of four bullets directly into his comfort radius. I angled each bullet to project indirectly in any path he chose to evade. At this range, there was no way he could evade simply or so I thought. Incredibly, he saw through my tactic and used it against me to evade every bullet. I was impressed, he dodged them fairly well. Clearly, he was somehow predicting my moves and using them against me. Wait, something was wrong. All this time, I had been focused on my battle that I forgot to pay attention on the other things around me. The fighting elsewhere seemed to have receded. I glanced around quickly, but saw no one close. What was going on? Who had won?

"Where are looking?" he spoke with an icy voice.

I turned around just in time to see him vanish quickly at lightning speed. My eyes tracked him for an instant, more than enough to predict his trajectory. I followed suit and increased my speed to match his. All my muscles stiffened and tightened as if they were being compressed. My vision began to blur a little bit and my ears kept popping every 3 seconds. But it still wasn't enough.

"Increase the output to overdrive."

This was it, the final plot in our battle—it was only a matter of minutes before one of us fell. As for me, I had a few seconds of fight in me left at best. The intense pressure my body felt was unbearable. Everything in my body lashed out at me to stop and rest. But I couldn't, not just yet. Within seconds, I began to catch a glimpse of his shadow in front of me. We were moving at a ridiculous speed, far beyond the sound barrier. I was slowly catching up to him since he was moving in a straight line. Strange, it felt like he wanted me to catch up to him. What was he planning? I raised my left gun and took aim at him. Instantly, Dr. Vegai turned around with great precision, and kicked me in the head. It was so fast, I never saw it coming until it was too late. Narrowly, my body reacted quickly through memory, allowing me to decrease the impact by swerving my torso right. Dr. Vegai maneuvered out of my range and sped up again, right in front of me. Feeling groggy, I stopped for a second to orient myself and then went after him. Everything became one giant blur; I could barely see where I was going or how much time had passed. Wait, something else was going on. The sky seemed green to me. Now what?

"You have lost, child," the doctor appeared inches away from me, his gun pointed directly at my chest. "If I wanted to, I could have defeated you at any time of my choosing."

My arms tingled as I felt a cold chill in my spine. He was right, I think he had been just toying with me this entire time. I felt humiliated and angry, but somehow, I calmed myself and focused. Two bullets shot out of his left revolver and imploded on my chest. I yelped for breath for a second as my knees locked. For reasons still unclear, it wasn't fatal. He had proven his point. Compared to him, I was nothing but a weak and fragile child. My armor was still functional, confirming that he really was just toying with me. Forget winning, I would be lucky just to be alive when this was over. Dr. Vegai was a monster, too powerful for my taste. I calculated my odds of shooting him with my left gun and realized how futile it was. As long as he could predict my next move, that wasn't going to work. The difference in the level of our intellect was far too vast for comparison. It was going to take a miracle to outsmart him. I hovered carefully into his attack range, looking for any openings in his armor and defense. Sadly to say, his defensive abilities were flawless.

Crap, something else caught my attention. It was my body acting weird, as if all the energy inside me was being sapped out. It seemed my body had been strained beyond its limits; my organs felt like they had ripped. Give or take, I had two minutes before I completely collapsed to the ground. Why was I putting myself through all this pain? Just what was I fighting for? I mean, I could have just given up and run away, but, regrettably, I didn't.

"If you won't give up, then I will force you to," the doctor's voice came from behind me.

My eyes widened as I realized what was about to occur. He had his guns pressed behind my back that there was no chance to evade out of the way. I felt something sharp and painful as he fired them both at the same time instantly. My eyes caught a glimpse of him before everything became a haze. It was an unbearable pain, the bones in my back all popped at the same time while I fell in a hard, downward descent to the ground. I spiraled deeply into the dirt, beneath rubbles of gate debris. Nothing made sense, only the pain felt gruesomely real. Was this it? My body twitched and wouldn't listen to me. And the suit's AI didn't seem to be helping me at all. This battle seemed over, and I was the loser. Was I going to die like this? The story of Den Atmas ends on a miserable blue planet. What a sad ending.

No! Please anything but that. I refused to die on Erzat; it was the worst way to go out for any soldier.

"You had the chance to join me, but you didn't," the doctor said, hovering close to me.

I could hear the turbine force of his flight system whispering rigid into my ears. I half opened my eyes and saw him with his gun extended forward towards my head.

"Men like you only say words they can't back up with their actions. There is no such thing as peace and justice, only one path in life and we must follow it accordingly."

Man, I wished he would shut up or something, he was irritating me to no end. I would rather he shoot me already, if it saved me from hearing his petty lectures. His ideals were screwed up and I wish he could see the light at the end of this tunnel.

"Naïve people like you only meet certain doom in the end," he continued and walked over to step on my back with his left leg. "The world is far better off without people like you and your ideals."

"Ow!"

I felt so much pain I screamed in agony—but he didn't seem to care.

"Welcome to the real world, kid," he chuckled and lowered his stance a bit. What if he was right? I mean what if this was truly what happened to people with naïve ideals? All I had done, so far, was act like a good person and hope for the best, but it wasn't enough. Was there any way I could beat this man? Was the only way to win against him to be coldhearted and ruthless like he was? I had no strength left to continue, and it looked like this was the end.

"You put up a good fight," I said to myself, to comfort this empty feeling of regret. "There is no way anything else could have been done, nothing to be ashamed of." I closed my eyes and embraced for the worst, hoping he would end it quickly.

"Why are you giving up?" a voice said to me suddenly; it was familiar and warm. This voice! Was it Sydney? No! I was just imagining it, there was no way it was him. "So many people fell to get you to where you are, don't let their efforts go to waste."

Man, I was hearing voices now? This was exactly how he spoke when he was serious. I hated it when he used to go all deep and philosophical on me on certain subjects. Despite that, it was good to hear his voice, even though it was all in my head.

"Sydney, is that you?" I asked, knowing how insane I sounded.

"Search your feelings and you will know the answer," the voice faded.

Now, logically, it was impossible to search my feelings, nevertheless, I still tried anyway. Now what did his words mean? What was he trying to tell me? Darn, I was really a klutz at interpreting deep stuff. Although, there was some light shade from his words, a fragment from my broken past.

"I think, I am starting to get it."

Not really concerning what Sydney said, but about Rose. It was from a memory of her about 5 years ago when I was about to take my final test of the semester. I was freaking out, as I had not studied enough Advanced Biochemistry to pass the test with flying colors.

"You will do great," she comforted me, but I still kept freaking out. "Never give up and keep believing in yourself and nothing is impossible."

She sounded like a fortune cookie, but that was another thing I liked about her. She gave him a slight embrace and stayed up with me, helping me with my studies. I passed the class and it was all thanks to her. Her words even now comforted me and filled me with hope. I smiled faintly, knowing why I was fighting. I had not lost everything I loved yet, and that was enough reason for me to get up and fight. Besides, there were things I needed to say to Rose, so I couldn't die just yet. I barely opened my eyes and clenched my left gun hard.

"Do you have anything else you want to say, before I send you to oblivion?" the doctor asked as he reloaded his other gun. He took his eyes off me for a second, totally ignoring me. Perfect! His guard was down and this was the moment I was waiting for. With every ounce of strength I could summon, I rolled on my back and fired without a moment's thought, aiming for his chest.

"How in the!"

Dr. Vegai never saw it coming or suspected otherwise. Out of the left revolver, a massive ray of bright, blue light shot out, completely engulfing the mad doctor in fury blue flames. It didn't stop there, he was sent surging, vertically, into the air. I shielded my eyes while still tracking the projectile of the blast. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be that powerful. The force of the blast was creating turbulence of winds in every direction, like a raging storm. The furious wave of the bullet persisted for a few more seconds, and then completely vanished along with the crazy doctor. Was it finally over? I couldn't believe my plan had finally worked. I had to admit, there were times I had felt like giving up, but I am glad I didn't. Slowly, I pushed away a large block of metal that was pressed against my leg and got back to my feet, glancing around.

All I saw was a stock pile of burning debris, completely ushered everywhere. Alongside it appeared to be carcasses of dead terror beasts and metallic gate rubble. These carcasses were probably Dr. Vegai's second batch of monsters, created for his sick minded schemes. Oh well, I no longer needed to worry about them—since they could no longer get to earth. I moved my neck and felt a jolt of pain in my spine. "Perhaps, I should rest for a while."

I sat down again to preserve my remaining strength and energy. At last, another invasion had been stopped. With the doctor defeated and the dimensional gate no more, our problems had been cut in half. Our major concern now was the other terror beasts still rampaging on earth. We had no knowledge on how to stop them, but I got the feeling the other Rasians would help us. There had to be some information in the remnants of Dr. Vegai's damaged lab that could be of use. I went from a sitting position into a more comforting position, with my back hard and straight against the ground. It eased the pain a little. Everything was silent. I couldn't hear any sound of gun fire or terror beast cries—a little too quiet, even for my liking. Just what was happening? Our com link was static, I couldn't converse with anyone. Was it really over? Was Dr. Vegai really gone? I never imagined he would drop his guard that easily—it felt like he wanted me to attack him.

No, I had shot him at point blank; there was no way he could have seen or avoided that. But it did feel like he was still alive. I had this nerve wrecking hunch that warned me to get up. It was an alarming feeling that I took seriously. Now getting up was the hard part. Usually it would be a snap for me; however, today was different. It was like trying to lift ten tons. I got back on my feet for a second and fell instantly. It felt like the ligaments, in both my legs, had been torn apart. Yep! I bet I had a whole lot of stretch marks all over my body, meaning I couldn't show off my muscles at the beach for a while.

"What in the!"

Something was falling, in red flames, from the sky. It looked metallic and almost humanoid in form. No, I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. That armor belonged to Dr. Vegai, meaning my hunch had been right. Half of his armor had been synched off, while the other half was buzzing sparks of electricity. That being said, I couldn't afford to be careless around him. He was still dangerous, even without the use of his armor. My scanners detected a pulse from his body and signs of consciousness. Oh man, of all the times for him to appear again before me. My body was in no shape for another bout with him—but then again, so was his. The doctor smashed, back first, into a large metal hull, about few yards from me and lay there motionless. I sighed with relief, because he wasn't going to move any time soon.

"I will not be stopped," he screamed and suddenly rattled wildly.

He was just incredibly motivated towards destruction. I don't think anything I could say or do could stop him from his madness. His psychosis was giving him untapped potential abilities I couldn't logically explain. Was he immortal or something? The last blast from my gun had enough power to level half a city, and yet this man took it at point blank range and survived. Just what did it take to bring this mad man down?

We both started to struggle to get up, each of us with no more reserves of energy left to use. Our systems had both been damaged beyond normal repairs, so it was now a fight with our fists. My legs felt like porridge, nevertheless, I wouldn't go down.

"I commend you, Den," he struggled to breathe, barely on his feet. "You are the first person who has ever pushed me to this extent. But your motives are weaker than mine and that is why you will lose."

"Enough with your stupid talk," I roared, hardly standing on one good leg, "I don't care about resolve anymore. I just want to stop your madness once and for all."

"I see, then come at me with everything you have," Dr. Vegai said, taking a south paw stance. His stance was a deadly left handed technique in close boxing. In the week I spent boxing, I learned how to counter both orthodox and south paw boxers. One thing was certain, getting in too close would prove fatal in my case. However, I needed to check him out and see the extension of his left punches. Quickly, I switched to an orthodox style first (right hand style) and moved in close. I wasn't going to attack first. My primary goal was to learn his rhythm and power. As soon as we were in close proximity, he let out a furious howl of right jabs. I watched him closely, staying out of his attack range cautiously. His right jabs were a distraction to lure me in close. And if by some chance, I took the bait, it would be over instantly. The moment I stepped into his attack range, he was going to shift all his weight to his hips and finish me off with his left powerful hook or so I thought. As expected, his jabs had half the speed due to his physical and mental weariness. I felt my legs lock and tremble with each dodge I did. This was not good. My best chance lay in getting in close and making it a close brawl: another bad idea.

What was I thinking? I stepped into his attack zone, with my hands shielding my face. The power behind his right jabs was undeniably strong. Okay! One, two, three, four, and stop. A pattern in his attacks emerged and I proceeded to come up with a perfect counter. His rhythm was basic and straightforward boxing.

"Here goes nothing," I stepped in even closer as he was retracting his right jab.

In that moment, he shifted all the weight in his body into his right leg and hit me with a strong, powerful right punch. I stumbled back, trembling in total dizziness. That was different, completely straight out a genius boxer's handbook. I was under the impression that he was left handed and now I wasn't so sure. Dr. Vegai turned around into an orthodox right hand style and attacked without mercy. Typical, I fell for the simplest trick in the book. His south paw stance at the beginning was only a ruse to lure me in close. Meaning, he had anticipated I would take the bait and move in close like a simple idiot. I bit my lip and utter anger and raised my fists again. The only way to beat someone of his caliber was to do the unexpected and catch him off guard.

"You are good, but I am better," he commented and moved in for a quick assault.

He blitzed into my blind spot from behind, hoping to strike me without too much trouble. Knowing this, I raised my leg up hard and countered with an unanticipated kick to the face. My kick connected with his face, flawlessly, causing him to stagger back. Not enough, he was still standing on his last legs. In fact, we both were at our limits. I felt my body burn with intense pain and realized I was still standing on a whim. At any second, I could fall, signifying my defeat. Desperate for a quick finish, I rushed and punched him hard with everything I had. "Oh come on."

He didn't go down—in fact, he acted like it had not affected him at all. My legs gave out on me and I fell hard onto my knees. I glared up at him and saw his gaze turned towards the blue sky. What was he plotting to do now? I had nothing left inside me to launch another assault, all my reserve energy had been depleted.

"I see," he laughed, attempting to sound tough or something. "You held onto your beliefs and fought hard, I can see why I have lost."

After saying that, he fell to the ground and didn't try to get back up again. What an opponent! I had never faced such a worthy adversary before. On top of it all, my childhood idol. But it was not over. I crawled towards him, ready to deliver the final blow. My heart was full of hatred and anger. This was the man who ruined my life, the person who took everything away from me.

Today, I would get my justice, my own brand of judgment. As he lay there, I grabbed a large metal sheet and raised it above his head. What was I doing? Would this satisfy my anger? I growled out loud and threw the large sheet down in anger. Killing would not change a thing. I could either choose to move on or linger in the past, just like him, and I didn't want that.

"I will get your justice for you, instead of killing you," I said to him, kneeling closer.

I could barely keep myself up as there was no strength left to support my weight. "You don't have to keep fighting anymore, let me take some of your burden for you."

I truly meant every word of it. This man who I had admired as a kid was still someone I could save, despite his horrendous mistakes.

"You truly are something else," he commented, removing his helmet to show his face. "My son would have been a lot like you, I can see that. You truly remind me of him; he always saw the good in others, even when they couldn't be saved."

"I can still save you," I replied him, my heart finally calm, "it is never too late to change your life, you were once a great man and you still could be."

He smiled and looked at me without his helmet on this time, "thank you; however, it's too late. My actions will never be forgiven, although I can still do one thing right. Here is the data on how to stop the terror beasts that still remain on earth. I built a safe switch, just in case things ever went wrong."

He placed his hand on my com link and some new data I had never seen before popped up on my helmet screen. This was his first atonement for his crimes, proving that any man could change—given a chance and someone to believe in them.

"What will happen to my people?"

His face was full of remorse and the expression of concern on his face was genuine.

Not even I knew the answer to that question but I said, "no one knows what the future holds for us. But I am positive that they will survive and thrive. Our work is done here. We will leave this planet and go back to earth. I will only report to my superiors only the small details. Your kingdom is safe from us; I don't think we will ever come back here."

Before I could say some more words, I was rattled back by something powerful, causing me to spiral backwards onto the ground. I spat out blood and rolled all over a few clunks of hard metal. Someone had shot me with a proton-like bullet. Who was it? It was so intense that I struggled to stop myself from screaming.

"Excellent job, Den," Roldo walked up to me and stood next to the doctor. "We would never have been able to take him head on without some sort of miracle. You weakened the good doctor enough for us and did us both a favor."

What the! Now what did these backstabbing yowsers want? To be exact, what were they doing here? Roldo walked past me, picked up the doctor and put him on his shoulder.

"Such a shame that I can't move," Peter hissed while being carried by Danack. "The next time I see you, you won't be so lucky."

Wait! What in the world was going on here? It was like they just appeared from thin air. If memory served me right, the last time I had encountered them, they were enemies. Were they still my enemies?

"Just what is this mess?" I asked them, anxious to get up. The intensity of the pain all over my body was too much that I gave up and rolled back onto the ground.

Roldo took out a golden amulet from his thigh plate pocket and showed it to me. No way, I couldn't believe, but it was right in front of me. The object in his clutch was the seal of top secrecy. From the moment I became a soldier, this seal was our life line to the government. Everything we did from then onwards was to be kept a hush-hush from civilians.

"You had your mission and we had ours. Ours, to be precise, was to infiltrate the enemy base and snatch the leader and all his research work. We were ordered to take any measures necessary to bring them both back to earth. Did you really think we were traitors? Everything went all according to plan except for one thing, you. We never expected you would meddle this deep into our mission, but we couldn't have easily completed this mission without your help. I will let the superiors know of your role in all of this."

Whoa! Had I just been used? I felt worse than toilet paper. I don't think there was anything worse than what I was feeling right now. If all that was true, not saying I believed it, then why had they told us something different before this mission begin? How many other crew members knew about this?

"So you used all of us like puppets for your little scheme?" I growled in frustration, at the moment of truth. "We could have died. Was this all for nothing? Did all our lives mean anything to you?"

"Shut up, you fool," Roldo growled at me, with a

scary and frightening voice. "You know the mission code, right? Orders are orders, even if you don't like them. Who cares if a few of us make it back? What matters is that the objective was completed and nothing less. Just be glad we spared your life, and never speak a word of this to anyone."

"I get it now," the doctor interrupted. "You are in league with them, aren't you? They sent you here to retrieve the formula, didn't they?"

What was the doctor saying? Who was he talking about? Then it suddenly came back to me. Dr. Vegai mentioned something about the men who ruined his life still living on earth. Was this somehow related?

"Did the elder government leaders send you on this mission?" I asked stupidly without thinking. I regretted my poor choice of words, nevertheless, there were out in the open.

They all looked at me, alarmed. Roldo's movements became stiff and almost brutal like. I should have kept my mouth shut, and regrettably I didn't. I winced slowly and tried to move back, out of their range. Not good, my body wasn't responding accordingly.

"So Dr. Vegai told you about them, didn't he? Big mistake, Den," Danack screamed and put Peter down. He walked up to me and bent down, picking me by my neck so quick I barely had time to react. I tried to yank off his arm, but his grip was tight.

"We can't let him live now, after what he has just said," Danack growled, telling Roldo.

Roldo shifted his weight to his right leg slightly while carrying the doctor, looking coldly at me through his head gear. "You are right, finish him off now before he becomes a nuisance again."

"All this time, I thought you were my loyal followers," the doctor cut in, looking down. "But you were just deceiving and using me, just like they did."

"Stupid doctor," Peter commented back to the doctor, "Did you really think we would follow your ideals? We are not that gullible, after all, we are elites."

Roldo and Danack were elite scumbags, but I wasn't sure about Peter. I'm positive Peter was just there for the ride along. Although, I still couldn't believe it. They had deceived us all into believing they were traitors, and then twisted it around to make themselves our allies again. Darn! Did that make them double or triple agents?

"Well, sorry, Den, I hate to do this to a comrade, it can't be helped," Danack said, reaching for his gun. "You know too much—so it's too risky to keep you alive. No, wait, this won't work."

He was giggling and acting strangely as his other free hand reached out for my head gear. Danack unlocked it and took off my helmet. He threw it on the ground and unsheathed his gun for a clear head shot. Intensely, my head trembled, reacting to the heavy feel of the gravity. I looked at him without remorse and anger. The deep sensation of fear and regret had somehow disappeared from my heart. I clearly understood now what he meant by those words. Every soldier had to do whatever it took to finish his mission. I knew the risks so I did not blame him.

"He can breathe this air?" Peter asked, sounding surprised. "We should take him with us and let the research team study him; he might prove more useful that way."

"No! Absolutely not," Roldo yelled and refused Peter's suggestion. "Remember what happened last time we took him to the lab. He almost killed us; who is to say the same thing won't happen again, once he recovers?"

Darn! Roldo was truly the brains of this operation, he knew me too well to see through my tactics and strength.

"I guess this is goodbye," Danack said, leisurely trying to savor each moment.

I closed my eyes, and tilted my head, bracing my mind for my demise. It was then I heard a thunderous sound close to my ears. I opened my eyes, slowly, and saw Roldo's gun on the ground. Someone had shot it out of his hand. I had no idea who, but I was thankful.

"Put them down," a voice commanded.

I glanced around and caught a glimpse of the captain, along with the rest of the crew. They were armed and standing in a battle formation pattern. Peter and his lackeys looked around and saw that their chance of victory was slim. Bit by bit, they backed away, carrying me alongside, looking for a safe exit. But there wasn't anywhere to run for them.

"I would do what they say," Kristin and her army appeared from the other side, ready to fight. Their fire power was frightening too—at this point, I knew that they had no choice except to surrender.

"Okay, will do," Danack said, and gently let me go, before dropping something on the ground.

It was a smoke flare which ignited and spread rapidly through the thick air. Within the smoke, Peter and his comrades made a quick getaway, taking off for the skies. They took Dr. Vegai along with them, leaving me lying down on the dusty, metal wreckage.

"Until next time, old friend," Peter snickered from the smoke before his voice disappeared completely.

"We should go after them," Kristin's younger sister ordered, signaling a team to pursue. "They have the doctor and we need him to pay for his crimes. All those who can still fight join me in the hunt."

Kristin grabbed her sister who was about to rush towards the fleeing men. She shook her head with eyes full of sentiment. "Enough blood has been spilled today; we need to look after the injured ones first. We can track them down later, but for now, this comes first."

Crap! I couldn't believe this was how it was going to end. Just what had I accomplished? Was our mission over? How were we going to escape this wretched planet? What sort of information had the doctor left me? I had so many bothersome questions going unanswered, it was nerve jolting. But something was revealed to me, there was perhaps some truth to Dr. Vegai's last words. I did not want to believe it, but I was certain something big was about to happen. It was probably going to change our way of life as we know it. Did I really want to know that answer? Nope, some things were better left unknown, especially something this big. I was desperate to tell someone about this new revelation. That being said, I couldn't, since I had been sworn to keep everything I knew a secret by Roldo and his gang of two timing traitors. But how had they acquired the golden seal of top secrecy? Who were these elder government leaders and what did they want with Dr. Vegai? The thought of it all was enough to make my head hurt.

"The nightmare is finally coming to an end," the captain commented to me, "it's all thanks to your efforts and determination. I always knew there was something special about you and that is why I bet on you."

What! Yeah right! Did he expect me to buy that? I didn't believe any word coming from him. I mean, he was the one that got me almost killed, thanks to that bet. I didn't say anything to him though, since I didn't want to sound rude.

"Den, are you still alive?" Ali's voice came through the com link. "Answer me if you can hear this?"

"Yeah, I am still kicking," I said, not trying to sound too mean, "are you surprised?"

"You idiot," he bashed at me, making my ears ring. "All that commotion you made has just awakened a hornet's nest. Do you know what you have done? I just asked you to do one simple task, but you had to end up getting involved in a war. We really need to get off this planet before things get really bad."

I had no idea what he was talking about; I had stopped listening after he had called me an idiot. I knew what he had to say was important. Just didn't want anything to ruin this feeling of victory I was feeling right now. Even though things had turned out different, I had conquered my fears and acted on my resolve to stop a mad man. Now wasn't that worth celebrating?

"We have the supplies," Dalla said and sat next to me. She tilted her head towards me, and glared at me through her headgear. "Don't you think it's time we went home?"

Yep! I couldn't agree more, there was nothing I wanted more than that. Being on this planet had really changed me in so many ways. I mean the gravity no longer affected me as it did before, and I could breathe this noxious air without suffering lethal consequences. In fact, a lot of things had happened to which I had no logical explanation to. I scratched my head slightly—while trying to block every stress making questions still left inside my brain. After this ruckus, I was in need of a long vacation. If possible, for two to four years at the least. Someone silently walked by me and halted behind my gaze. I turned my back and saw Kristin, standing stiffly, looking at the surroundings in wonder. How many allies and friends had she lost? She was perhaps even questioning if she made the right call by allying with me and my crew. I couldn't even begin to imagine the turmoil that was going on in her mind. On the bright side, both my crew had and her armies were kind of getting along. We were not fighting, which was more than I could ask from anyone. Definitely not going to be easy to explain to them what had occurred in these past few days, but oh well.

"What will you do now?"

With their leader gone, the country would surely fall into chaos unless a true leader was chosen. Kristin looked ready to step up to that challenge; I was confident of that.

She smiled and said, "We will rebuild our country back to its former glory. Our pride has not been shattered yet—we will survive and prosper again. We owe you and your comrades a great debt for your role in this civil war."

"I didn't really do anything that special," I blushed, trying to be modest. I was never good with attention and a crowd; this was definitely something new. "And what about the people who were under his mind control?"

"They'll be fine," Kristin added. "When the lab got destroyed, the device controlling them was destroyed as well, freeing their minds from the hypnosis."

"That's good," I looked up, supporting myself by placing my hands on the ground.

It seemed the war with the terror beasts was soon coming to an end. With the data in my possession, we had gained a means to stop the powerful creatures on earth. All of their strengths and weaknesses were stored safely in my armor database.

Dr. Vegai!

He wasn't a very bad person after all—it seemed revenge had tainted his heart and made him that way. Could I become like him if bad things happened? I had felt the urge to act on my impulse and finish him off the moment I had defeated him. But I knew well what going down that path would lead to, and it wasn't pretty.

Blankly, I halted all my other thoughts and focused on the last thing I had asked Roldo, Peter, and Danack. Apparently, there was another force controlling the government from the shadows. Just who were these people? Danack was rather serious about keeping this information a secret, meaning it was mostly true. The truth was definitely stranger than fiction. I mean, would anyone believe me, if I told them a bunch of 500 years old leaders had something to do with us being here? I would have an easier time convincing a monkey that a banana was blue compared to that. But for now, it was probably best not to let the others know about this yet, it would only freak and anger them. However, one thing though was clear, something big was going to happen on earth. We needed to get there as fast as we could and stop it.

"Are you ready to go?" Rick said, slithering past our alien allies, weaponless, and stood with one foot above a metal cag, while gazing deep towards the sun. Even though the debris was almost suffocating, I could still feel a sense of calm and freedom surging from within.

"Just one minute," I sighed, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath of air. For some reason, the blue sky I so disliked seemed peaceful and warm today.

THE END

Thank you, reader, for taking an interest in this book. A thousand apologies for some of the typos and grammar errors, I am still just a novice, but updates will be made every time an error and typo are found. I hope you buy the book 2, which is now available on amazon.com, and join me for another exciting and intense adventure.

End Boss Annihilation Now Available on Amazon.com

