ConQuest (The Quest Saga) (11 page)

“Thank you, sir,” Elizabeth saluted him.

He turned to the other ‘Battle of Heroes’ contesters.

“I’m disappointed that you did not even think of helping these kids out in the battle. Report to my office first thing tomorrow,” he said and got into a hovercraft that had barged into the arena.

“Someone, take this boy to the infirmary!” Juliana barked instructions. She was on the battlefield trying hard to lift Khan.

He was knocked out cold. Q hoped he’d be okay. Being possessed didn’t seem like a thing one could easily recover from; especially psychologically. At least that’s what he’d seen in books and movies.

“I’m going back to the dorm,” Taylor announced.

“Wait for me,” Q said as he ran to catch up with her.

They were walking along when Taylor suddenly asked him to look behind them.

Q did so. Elizabeth was following them.

“What’s she doing?” Q asked her.

“I don’t know but we’d better be on guard.”

Elizabeth followed them all the way to the Atom block. They went to the elevator only to be followed by Elizabeth again.

“You live in the same block?” Q asked and she nodded.

They got into the elevator and Q entered ‘22’ and waited for Elizabeth to enter her floor number but she didn’t move an inch. He assumed that she was at a higher floor and would enter the number after they got off.

The door opened and Elizabeth got out first. Q and Taylor followed her out. Q looked at Taylor quizzically.

“What are you guys doing?” Elizabeth asked them.

“You know, I should be asking you the same question,” Taylor said.

“I’m just going to my room,” she said and opened the door. She went in and they followed her.

Taylor stared at her. “This is our room!” She sounded emphatic.

“Oh, so you live together!”

“Yes! No! Yes! But that’s not the point!”

“Well they told me I was being moved to room 22 in the Atom block,” Elizabeth continued.

“When did they tell you this?” Taylor asked her.

“Yesterday morning, but I was able to move only today.”

“Wait. You’re the new girl aren’t you? The one who picked a fight with Khan earlier?” Taylor asked.

“Word spreads around fast, huh?”

“You kind of knocked me out you know,” Q said.

“You stood there like an idiot,” Taylor reminded him.

“Same thing,” Q mumbled.

“This is our room and I’ll prove it to you.” Taylor changed the topic.

“Come on up,” Taylor called Elizabeth and showed her everything. The clothes in the closet, the magazines she had read. It clearly showed that Q and Taylor stayed there.

The Archie comics and chocolate did at least. Elizabeth made a mental note to ask Taylor later where she got the chocolates from.

“I guess I’ll just have to stay with you then,” she told them.

Q felt a shiver go up his spine. Something told him that Elizabeth moving in wasn’t going to be good.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was the intruder he’d seen. It wasn’t exactly comforting to have an expert of knives living with you, unless you needed to cook something.

“Fine,” he said. What else could he do?

“You can’t just let her stay,” protested Taylor.

He turned to Elizabeth. “Would you have left if I had said ‘no’?”

“Of course not!” She was excited at the new outcome.

“See?” Q told Taylor. They just had to put up with her.

“Fine, you can stay,” Taylor grumbled.

“It wasn’t your decision in the first place,” Elizabeth said.

“I’d watch my mouth if I were you, Barbie. We’re under the same roof now.”

Q got in between them and broke it off before they could start hurting each other.

After another few arguments on general rules (you wouldn’t want to know) they went to sleep.

Q was still wide awake when he heard someone knock on the door. He went down and opened it.

It was Kai! He was in tattered clothes and looked like he’d had a rough time.

Elizabeth and Taylor came down as well.

“Where were you?” Q asked Kai.

“Moon base. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

“Who is it, Q?” Taylor asked.

“Hi, Taylor,” Kai greeted. “And who do we have here?” He looked at Elizabeth.

“That’s Elizabeth.” Q said. “Elizabeth-Kai, Kai-Elizabeth,” he said introducing them to each other.

“So what did you want to say?” Q asked him, reminding Kai why he was there.

“Carlos wants to talk to you, he says it’s urgent.” He looked worried again.

Q knew one thing for sure. If Carlos was calling someone up in the middle of the night then it had to be serious.

“I’ll come too,” Taylor said.

“Don’t forget me,” Elizabeth said.

“Let’s go,” Kai said and took Q forward while the girls followed them.

He led them to a large metal door.

“We’re here,” Kai said.

They walked into the room.

“Hello, Q” Carlos said.

“Carlos! Where have you been all this time,” Q queried.

“Forget about that. Right now, what matters is that the universe needs your help, Q,” he said, his face dead serious.

Q burst out laughing. “And why is it me?”

Carlos looked like he had aged 10 years right there.

“Because you’re the only hope we’ve got.”

The Dark Knight

Everyone stared at Carlos. The guy had never been this serious his entire life. If what he said was anywhere close to being true…….

“Q, we need your help. You may not know what you’re capable of but I do,” Carlos stated.

“Trust him, Q,” Taylor said.

Though it seemed to be a big joke, Q decided to go along with it for the time being.

“So just me? All alone? What am I even supposed to do?”

Taylor put her hand on his shoulder. “Just what do you think friends are for?” she grinned.

“There’s no way you’re going without me,” Elizabeth said.

Q didn’t get what her motive was. He’d met her only a day ago; so she wasn’t exactly best friend material but he figured the more the merrier.

“It’s decided then. Kai has got a ship to take you.”

“Hold on!” Q said. Everyone turned to him.

“You still haven’t told us why you went to moon base.”

“That was just to get your new ship,” Carlos replied.

“Better hurry. The Orion is waiting for you,” he added.

“Orion?” Taylor asked.

Kai just grinned broadly. “C’mon I’ll show you.”

All of them left. Q was completely confused. He didn’t know what to do, where to go, nothing! Carlos called him just as he was about to leave the door.

He handed him a piece of paper. “Spatial coordinates. Go to this planet. There’s a guy there that I know. He’ll tell you everything you need to know. Good luck.”

“What are you going to be doing?” Q asked.

“I’m going to manage everything around here. There have been a few... uh... problems lately.”

“Can’t you just tell me why we need to go on this quest? You can’t just send me off like that.”

“Remember the black holes that I told you about?”

Q nodded his head.

“There is one black hole, a super black hole, called Apocalypse. He stays in the centre of the universe…”

Q got what he was saying but he didn’t get why Carlos kept referring to the black hole as ‘he’.

“You must be confused. I’ll explain. Nothing in the universe is ‘dead’. The same way nothing is ‘alive’… So, not surprisingly, black holes are alive as in, they live and breathe.”

“Um... okay.”

Carlos continued, “Right now billions of black holes all across the universe are conjoining with Apocalypse.”

“So the inter-dimensional portals are opening up?”

“Yes. But that isn’t your main concern. If the portals open, only a small part of the universe would be destroyed. If Apocalypse grows any larger he’ll rip such a huge hole in space-time continuum that the entire universe would just dissolve. You’ve got about a week till that happens. Now I know only the problem. The solution is in the hands of the man you will meet.”

Q nodded, more assertive now. He got what the problem was but why was he chosen? Why not Khan?

Okay, Khan was not in a situation to fight, but weren’t there warriors more capable than him?

“This is your mission Q; and remember you are much more than what you think. Much more than anyone will ever be.”

“And Carlos…” Q bit his lip.

Carlos raised an eyebrow.

“Do you think Elizabeth should come? I have a feeling she isn’t who she says she is. She’s hiding something from us.”

“She was able to breach the stadium wall. Even I haven’t been able to do that. You need a warrior like her.”

“You coming or what?” Taylor asked. Q hadn't noticed that she was still standing in the doorway.

“Yeah sure,” he said and left.

“What did Carlos tell you?” Taylor asked him.

He told her about Apocalypse, the black hole and apocalypse, the end of the world that could happen because of Apocalypse the black hole. Taylor thought Q was toying around with her with a tongue twister until he swore that it was the truth.

              They walked out of the tower to where Kai was waiting for them.

Kai just pointed to the centre of the battlefield on their right. A gigantic ship stood there majestically.

“The Orion; fully functional warship. Any Zyxian who wants to mess with us will run back crying to his mommy, if he has one.”

“You made this!!?” Q asked in disbelief.

“I wish! Actually we got this from moon base. Isn’t she a beauty?”  Kai said.

The others stared in awe at the ship. The whole ship was of a sleek black color. The front of the ship was like a round-edged cube. The back extended all the way into a sharp, long rod.

Q felt as if the ship could slip through even the tightest of places.

“So? Let’s go check it out,” Kai excitedly ran to the ship.             

All of them followed him to the ship. There were computers everywhere. It looked like the kind of ship Tony Stark would have.

Floating screens everywhere. Hover platforms. It was a really cool-looking place. As soon as they got in, the ship lifted and shot off. Q wondered if the thing was automatic, considering that Kai was still with them and
not
piloting the Orion.

Q ran to the pit. If Kai wasn’t going to pilot this baby, he might as well give it a shot. Imagine his surprise when a girl was sitting in the pilot’s seat!

Q got so surprised that he tripped on a chair behind him and fell hard on the floor.

“That’s Christina,” Kai said. “Carlos recommended her to be our medic.”

“I see you’re better now,” Chris observed.

“You two know each other?” Elizabeth asked.

“She’s the one who took care of me after you knocked me out,” Q said.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that,” Elizabeth said.

Q realized something. “But Taylor is already a medic, so why is Chris here as well?”

“You’re a medic?!” Kai asked, astonished.

“I’m only a part time medic. In truth I’m actually a...” Taylor hesitated.

They all waited for the rest of it.

“I’m a dark knight,” she said.

“You mean like The Batman?” Q felt stupid asking such a question.

“No dummy, dark knights are the best in the space protection business. When you see a dark knight, the best thing for you to do would be to run away. That is if they’re attacking you,” Elizabeth told him. He could feel admiration in her voice.

Q looked around him. Everyone was staring at Taylor.

“Okay then, back to business, Christina is our new medic,” Kai said introducing everyone to her.

“Chris actually,” she said.

Kai corrected himself. “
Chris
is our new medic.”

“By the way, Carlos gave me some co-ordinates,” Q told Kai.

“Yeah, I know. Carlos had told me too. I’ve already got the ship heading to the place.”

That was when Q realized that the ship had been moving all along. It was so smooth that he hadn't even felt it!

Elizabeth suddenly fell to the floor. Her hands were gripping her stomach. Her eyes became watery.

Q lifted her up. “Chris…” he called.

Chris ran over and took a look at her.

As soon she saw Elizabeth’s face Chris’s eyes widened.

“What’s wrong?” Taylor asked.

“It’s probably only fatigue. A little sleep should make her feel better,” Chris said.

Q took her to the back and made her lie down on one of the beds. Elizabeth started breathing normally.

Kai walked up to Q. His face looked serious.

“Dude, we’ve got a problem...”

“What’s up?”

They heard a loud explosion a little away from them.

“That,” Kai responded.

“What was that?” Taylor asked, running up to them.

“Space pirates are attacking us,” Kai told them.

“Space pirates? What do they steal? People?” Q asked and a look from Taylor told him that it was the right guess.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Taylor shouted at Kai.

Another explosion sounded. This time the ship swayed a little bit.

“Guys, quit fighting. A pirate ship is attacking us,” Q reminded them.

Kai and Taylor nodded. “Let’s put up a hell of a fight.”

“Wait, why can’t we just use a warp drive? Doesn’t Orion have one?” Q asked.

“We
are
using a warp drive. The pirate ship is also using a warp drive. There is no way we can outrun them.”

“Battle is the only way, huh?” Q took a deep breath.

“Relax,” Taylor told him and added “With me on your side the battle is practically ours.”

Q wondered if she was really that self-centered or if she was that good in battle. He didn’t need to wait long to find out.

“Q!” Kai called out to him “Carlos said he had something for you in the back of the ship. He said it was a parting gift.”

“Thanks,” Q said and rushed to the back. Q wondered what it could be. He walked all the way to the back of the ship. At the end of the ship lay his gift.

Q couldn’t believe it. Carlos had given him a full suit of armor!