ConQuest (The Quest Saga) (16 page)

That seemed to calm Chris down.

“I guess I’ll just put the ship into outer space and hang in there,” Kai said.

They agreed to it. Kai set the co-ordinates. Q still stood behind him.

“Anything wrong?” Kai asked.

“Won’t we run out of oxygen at some point in time?” Q  voiced his doubts.

Kai just laughed. “C'mon, I’ll show you something,” he said.

He took him to the end of the ship and opened up a panel in the floor. Inside it were a lot of pipes and gauges in there.

“What’s that?” Q asked.

“It’s a decarbonator,” Kai explained. “It takes out carbon from any substance put into it. In simple terms it takes out the C in CO
₂
leaving us with just…”

“O
₂
. I know,” Q completed the sentence, a little turned off. “I know how it works. I just wanted to know what you use to recycle the air.”

After the chat with Kai, Q headed to the infirmary. He noticed that Chris was there as well.

“How’s she doing?” he asked.

“I have no idea what’s wrong with her. It almost seems like she has a psychotic attack.”

“A psychotic attack?”

“Yes. When a person has multiple personalities, the personalities fight for control of the body. This puts the body in a fragile state.”

Q felt a shiver across his spine. It didn’t sound pretty. He looked at her face. She still looked healthy.

“It’s got to be something else,” he said with hope. “It’s just got to!”

Just then Elizabeth yelled out. Her whole body twitched like she was throwing a fit.

Her eyes shot open. They were pure white, no pupils at all. Q looked at Chris. She had noticed it as well. Her face was full of fear.

Elizabeth kept screaming in pain. There was nothing that Q could do. There was nothing that anyone could do. Q felt so helpless at that point.

He had never felt helpless before and now that he finally felt it, he didn't know what to do other than sit and cry.

  Suddenly Elizabeth’s eyes closed and her whole body just stopped twitching. Q quickly turned to Chris.

“It looks like the attack stopped,” Chris said.

“How long does she keep going between attacks and coma?”

“Till she dies of dehydration and starvation.”

“Can’t you inject any food into her?”

“I tried giving her drugs but her body is not accepting them. There could be dangerous side effects if I force the drugs in.”

“I see. Okay, you go get some rest. You must be tired,” Q said

“You’ll be okay?” Chris asked.

Q nodded. Chris left the infirmary.

He looked at Elizabeth and brushed a strand of hair from her face.

“We’ll save you. Don’t worry…”

Space Patrol

Kai was up in the pit having the time of his life.

Sports, food, machines. That’s all a guy needs, he thought.

He was watching the NBA on a flat screen he had installed in the pit. Even he was surprised that he was able to get the signal even though they were so far away. Good ol’ radio waves. Sad part was that because of the distance they were at from the earth, Kai was watching the 1995 Yankees vs Mets. The TV was receiving radio waves that left the earth in 1995.

“Darn it” he said, slamming his coke down. “Can’t these guys hit the ball!” he yelled, reacting to the three strikeouts in a row.

Suddenly the alarms went off. The blaring sound surged through the whole ship.

“What’s wrong?” Taylor and Chris asked as they charged into the pit. They turned off the alarm as they went in.

Kai looked ahead. His heart beat faster and faster. Fear radiated from his face.

“Space patrol. They’re attacking us,” he said.

“Why are they after us? We haven’t done anything wrong,” Chris argued.

“I don’t know, but I don't think I want to find out either.”

An explosion sounded near the ship. A few more followed in succession.

“We’ve got to hit those things back,” Chris said.

She had just finished saying it when the alarms went off again.

“We’ve been hit?” Taylor asked.

“No,” replied a confused Kai. “It’s the hangar”

“Why would the hangar open up?” Chris asked.

They all looked at each other.

“Q,” they said in unison.

Kai tried to tap into a few surveillance cameras to find out what was actually going on back there. They were right. Q had opened the hangar.

He was in his armor which conveniently had a booster at the back and wings on the sides. He was planning on taking on the space patrol. Single-handedly.

Blocked out

Q waited for the hangar door to open completely. On the other side were a fleet of space ships. All had ‘Space Patrol’ embedded on them. Q surveyed all of them carefully. There were five ships in all.

“They’re going to regret shooting at the Orion,” he said and jumped out.

Kai couldn’t believe what he was seeing!

Q jumped into space. Just like that!

Kai took a closer look at Q.

Q’s Durendal discs merged together and turned into a rod of light. Just like the Star Wars thing. He made slashing motions and instantly bolts of blue energy shot towards the space patrol ships.

A few explosions occurred. In a few seconds smoke started rising from every patrol ship. He wasn't trying to attack them. He was only sabotaging the ships. In a few minutes the patrol seemed to realize they had no other option.

Q knew he’d won when he saw hundreds of escape capsules leave the ships.

Q returned back to the Orion in a jiffy.

Taylor stormed up to him “What were you thinking? You could’ve got us killed!”

“C’mon. I saved all of us.”

“Exactly. You don't need to save us all the time. We know how to save ourselves. I’m a dark knight for god’s sake!”

Q stepped back a little. Taylor seemed to be mad at him for no reason at all.

Taylor took a deep breath. “It’s just that I don't want you risking your life for us all the time. Sometimes, we have to step in and try to save our lives as well. You don't have to take everything on your own shoulders, okay?”

“Okay,” Q smiled. This was more like the Taylor he knew.

Suddenly the ship stopped with a lurch. Taylor and Q fell hard on the floor.

Q rubbed his head as he got up. “Ouch! What’s wrong with the ship?”

He looked around him. Taylor was unconscious. She seemed to have hit her head on the walls. He carried her to the bunks and laid her on her bed.

Chris walked up to him. “Kai needs your help at the pit”.

He looked at Taylor. Chris noticed her as well.

“What happened?”

“She hit her head on the walls.”

“She’s a dark knight all right.” Chris grinned “She’ll be fine. Now C’mon.”

Q followed her to the pit.

“What exactly seems to be the problem? Why did the ship stop?” he asked.

Kai pressed a button. Instantly a large screen dropped into the pit.

That is so cool, Q thought.

Kai pointed to the readings on the screen “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the ship. The readings are all perfect. The Orion just stopped for no reason.”

Maybe there’s some sort of force field, Q thought.

He focused and his mind immediately brought up the Q-maps. He searched for the section of the universe they were in.

He was right!

Around the planet was a huge sphere of energy.

Chris tried to move the ship forward but it just wouldn’t budge.

“It’s no use,” Q told them.

She looked at him, expecting an explanation.

“There’s an energy field around the planet. You’ll never get through like that,” he explained.

“We’re blocked out?” she asked.

Q didn’t reply. He was deep in thought. Nothing other than energy could pierce the field.

“I might have a solution,” Chris said.

“…but you’re not going to like it.”

New Year’s Eve

Taylor was having a dream.

She was in a huge room. The floors were of wood and the walls were plastered with posters.

‘New Year’s Eve Party’ they all said.

“Oh, no. Not this again,” she mumbled.

There were a lot of kids dressed in tuxedos and glittering gowns. She herself was in a silver gown. A guy walked up to her. It took some time for her to see that it was Q. He was in a hoodie and jeans. The only one who stood out from the whole group.

He had always said that he didn’t care about how he looked but Taylor felt that this was pushing it a little too much.

“Hi,” he waved at her.

Taylor could see a few guys glare at him.

She felt a little bad. She was the only one he ever talked to. The others snubbed him. He was the number one enemy a guy could have. Rich, smart and played
video games in class
!

“So what do you want to do?” Q asked her nervously.

“You don’t like being here?”

“Well, frankly, I don't know why I had to come for your New Year’s Eve Party. I’m going to have the same thing two years later anyway.”

“What do you think they do at proms?”

“Play cards in the corner?”

She turned to the corner and actually saw guys playing cards.

Wow, she thought.

“So what’s new?” she asked.

Q’s face turned darker. “Nothing.” He looked around. “Excuse me,” he said and ran out of the building.

Taylor didn't understand what she’d done wrong.

“Hello, darling!” said a voice.

Taylor expected it to be one of the jerks who always asked her for a dance no matter how many times he got ‘no’ as an answer.

It was Carlos. Luckily for him, Taylor decided to look before punching.

“Whoa, whoa,” he said, backing off a little bit.

“Just wanted to know what happened between you two,” he asked her.

Without a second thought she started replying. “I don’t know. He just fled the moment I asked him what’s new with him,” she said furiously.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him these days. He’s suddenly changed, keeps locking himself in his room all the time. Hardly ever comes out. Anyway…” Carlos said.

“Sorry…” she said and ran out of the building. She searched frantically for Q. He usually hung out by the playground during a ‘boring’ event.

“Q!!” she called out but he wasn’t there.

She heard a low growl. She looked around her. No one was there. Now she could hear a loud howl.

“No. It can’t be,” she said.

Suddenly her vision went white.

When it cleared up, she was back in the Orion, looking at the worried face of Kai.

“Wake up!” he shook her.

She was still in a daze. She wondered why she had seen that. It hadn't even completed the story but frankly that was one story for which she’d never want to see the ending.

“Stop shaking me,” she murmured.

“You’re awake,” he said happily; then a sly grin came across his face. “You were yelling Q’s name over and over again. What’s up with that?” He was trying hard not to laugh.

Taylor felt like she was in an oven. “That.....umm......” She didn’t know how to explain.

“You don’t have to say anything. It was bound to happen anyway.”

“What was bound to happen?”

“Q’s a nice guy so…” he started.

Taylor kicked him so hard that he hit the wall and slumped to the floor.

Maxi Blast

“An energy field can only be pierced by energy. Nothing else gets through,” Q said.

“How about weapons?” Chris asked.

“Do you know how hard it is to find energized weapons? They’re really unstable and…”

That was when he realized that Chris wasn't paying attention to him.

“What’s wrong?” Q asked.

Chris turned to him. She had a grin on her face.

“I have a crazy idea.”

“Well then let’s hear it.”

“We could try using your Durendal to pierce through the field.”

“What’s crazy about that?”

“You’d have to technically destroy it.”

“WHAT?”

“No no. It isn’t what you think. You’d have to turn it into energy for it to be effective and that’s where the ‘destroy it’ part comes.”

“I will get my weapon back, right?”

“Yeah….. Maybe.”

Q sighed. He didn't like the idea of putting his weapon on the line but if it was the only way to save the universe he didn't have any other choice.

“Fine. I’ll get onto the ship and fix it.”

Chris nodded.

Q walked to the hangar. He put on his suit and picked up the Durendal. The air pressure system was activated. Q opened the hangar door and jumped into space… again.

His suit changed shape until it had a jetpack on the back. He propelled himself to the front of the ship.

Chris waved at him through the windshield. She looked pretty tensed though.

Q closed his eyes and focused on the Durendal. His hands started to feel hot. His head was beaded with sweat.

When he opened his eyes, his discs had disappeared. Instead there was a metal hilt and a blade of pure green energy.

“I did it!” Q yelled.

“Good job,” Chris said through the intercom “All you have to do now is fix it to the ship.”

Q attached the saber to the ship easily. He got back into the ship and ran to the pit.

“Full speed ahead!” he told Chris as he entered the pit.

Chris pulled it into top gear. The engine hummed at a high pitch.

Q’s saber helped pierce the field but that wasn't enough. The ship didn't have enough horsepower to move forward. The force field seemed to be pushing them back.

He lifted his hand.

“Ha-di,” he said and hieroglyphics started to appear around his body. He didn’t even know what he was doing. A word just appeared in his mind and he said it.

The hieroglyphics sunk to the floor of the ship. The engine hummed even faster and the ship sunk in more and more into the field. The ship was going into overdrive. Chris opened a small box on the panel and pressed a red button inside.