Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (11 page)

When Klaycon saw the whole
planet was now under black clouds, he was angry at himself. He hesitated too
long. When he finally asked Nissen to establish communication with other
vessels to find Gloria, he was shocked that Gloria was not on any of them. He
immediately had the vessel fly back to Etitaeg. Right now, he was standing in
the bridge, accompanied by Nissen, Didian, Zier and other four Glycans.

“Scan
the planet for Gloria’s crystal.” Klaycon said in a worried voice.

“Yes.”
Didian said as he started the scan.

As
Klaycon was waiting for the result, Carila ran into the bridge with an angry
look.

“Why we
come back? We…”

Klaycon
suddenly grasped Carila’s neck and lifted her up from the deck. Then he
thrusted her at the window.

“BAM!”
Carila hit the window and slumped on the ground.

“Anyone
else?!” Klaycon asked furiously as he looked around the bridge. Others in the
bridge lowered their heads.

“The
scan is done and no result for Gloria’s crystal.” Didian said.

“You
came all the way back to find Gloria?” Carila asked angrily.

Klaycon
didn’t even look at Carila. All he was thinking now was Gloria. He was tapping
his feet nervously and thinking other possibilities.

“May I
suggest scan for Gloria’s family badge?” Zier asked coldly.

“Scan
it.” Klaycon ordered.

Didian
ran the scan and it returned with a hit. Klaycon was surprised and shouted,
“Proceed to the location.”

The
vessel entered Etitaeg’s atmosphere, penetrating layers of clouds. As it
approached the location, Klaycon and others saw something that they could only
imagine in their wildest dreams. A tentacle was grabbing a Human and lifting
him into the air.

“It’s a
human. It’s a human!” Didian said in shock.

“That is
where the badge is?” Klaycon asked in confusion.

“Yes.
Unbelievable!” Didian said in a doubting voice.

As they
got closer, Klaycon was able to tell that the Human was wearing the Guardian
Fleet trainee uniform. 

“He is
from Guardian Fleet.” Klaycon muttered.

“How can
that be possible?” Zier asked.

“Are you
sure he is carrying the family badge?” Nissen asked in surprise.

“Yes.
The signal is coming from him.” Didian said as he double checked the result.

“Stop
the vessel.” Klaycon ordered.

The
vessel was now suspending 200 meters over Jason’s head.

Jason
saw the vessel while stabbing the tentacles with the daggers. For a second, he
was thinking his friends were coming back for him, but then he realized that it
was a different one. After stabbing over twenty times on the tentacle squeezing
his waist, the tentacle finally released Jason. While Jason was falling,
another tentacle grabbed him. Then a huge head attached with hundreds of
tentacles slowly emerged from the ground. It pulled Jason close to its big
green eyes.

“What
the fuck are you looking at?” Jason yelled, aiming his daggers at its eyes.
Before he could threw them, the head suddenly split in half and a huge mouth
dotted with millions of teeth was stretching out of it, roaring at Jason. The
mouth was so huge that it could swallow more than 10 Jason at one time. The
tentacle swung Jason around and threw him into the mouth.

Klaycon
and others watched the monster swallow Jason in one piece.

“Klaycon,
we should at least get the badge.” Nissen said.

“We can
wait. That shouldn’t take long.” Klaycon said coldly.

“If we
save him, we can find out how he got the badge. Maybe he knows something about
Gloria.” Didian said.

“That is
possible.” Klaycon nodded.

“I don’t
suggest that. Let him come aboard will cause a lot of problems.” Zier said
calmly.

“I...”
Klaycon stopped as he noticed the monster was acting like it was in great pain.
It repeatedly crashed its head against the ground and slashed its own body with
tentacles. It was howling desperately, its body twitching, trying to throw up
something. All of a sudden, its head plumped on the ground and all its
tentacles lost steam.

While
Klaycon was wondering what just happened to the monster, a dagger busted out of
the monster’s skull, followed by a second dagger moving in a circle. Then Jason
broke through the skull and climbed out of its head, covered in its brain
tissues. He stood there, screaming at the top of his lung. Other nearby
monsters slowly retreated back to ground.

Klaycon
and others were shocked. Not only had they never seen anything like this
before, but also had never heard anyone that was able to kill a monster on a
selection planet. They froze there, their eyes bulging and their mouths opened.
After several seconds, they started to understand what just happened. Klaycon
shook his head and recompose himself. Zier was still trembling. Didian twisted
his jaw. Nissen was clenching the arms of his chair. Other Glycans in the
bridge looked like they just woke up from terrifying nightmares.

“Bring
him aboard. I need to ask him about the badge.” Klaycon said firmly, trying to
keep his voice as calm as possible.

“You
mean send someone down there?” Nissen said, his voice shaking.

“Yes,
right now!” Klaycon shouted angrily.

“There
are monsters down there.” Nissen said in a worried tone. He never questioned
Klaycon’s words before.

“In this
case, monsters will be the second concern.” Zier said reluctantly.

“Klaycon,
with all respect, I...I don’t think anyone should go down there.” Didian said
hesitatingly.

“The guy
only has two knives!” Klaycon shouted.

“We all
saw what he could do with two knives.” Nissen said gently.

“May I
suggest using onboard weapon to stun him?” Zier asked politely.

For a
second, Klaycon was thinking about going down there on his own, but he quickly
scrapped that idea before anyone noticed his hesitation. He nodded at Zier.

The
vessel started firing at Jason and captured him eventually.

Jason found himself restrained
in a small compartment, his feet fixed on the deck and his hands tied behind
him. He could stand up, but couldn’t move a step. When he tunneled through the
monster’s brain, his body was soaked in its brain tissue fluid. Now the fluid
was penetrating into his skin and he felt like thousands of bugs licking him
simultaneously.

The door
suddenly slid open and Klaycon, Nissen, Dilian and Zier stepped into the
compartment. They stood right in front of Jason, looking at him in disdain.

“How did
you get a Glycan’s family badge?” Klaycon asked coldly.

“I
picked it up somewhere.” Jason said easily.

“Where
did you pick it up?” Klaycon asked.

“I don’t
remember.” Jason said carelessly.

“How did
you get on Etitaeg?” Zier asked.

“I was
travelling.” Jason said.

All four
Glycans laughed loudly.

“We can
do it in an easy way or a hard way.” Klaycon said slowly, crashing each word.

“OK.”
Jason said as he leaned forward. Suddenly he thrusted his body upwards, darting
his head at Klaycon. Klaycon dodged back, but still hit by Jason’s head. He
stumbled back several steps and held on to the wall. Didian, Nissen and Zier
were shocked at this sudden attack.

Klaycon
regained his balance and swung his fist at Jason’s face. Jason leaned back and
ducked the blow, but that was all he could do. The next blow hit on his right
cheek, followed by another one on his left cheek. It kept going like this for a
minute.

When
Klaycon stopped to take a break, Zier patted Klaycon on his shoulder and
motioned him to go outside. The four Glycans went outside and shut the door
behind them.

“Are you
alright?” Nissen asked Klaycon.

“Fuck
off!” Klaycon shouted angrily.

“Why the
fuck we need to step outside?” Klaycon snarled at Zier.

“If he
is not with Guardian Fleet, we can just kill him. Nobody cares.” Zier said
coldly.

“Then
let’s throw him back to the planet. Let those monsters kill him.” Nissen said
quickly.

“I am
not sure he will be killed that way, you know.” Didian said disappointedly.

“First,
if he survived on that planet, we will be in big trouble. Second, if he was
killed on that planet, we will be responsible for his death.” Zier said calmly.

“Why are
we responsible for his death?” Nissen asked in confusion.

“Because
we brought him aboard. You idiot!” Klaycon yelled.

“Sorry.”
Nissen said as he casted his eyes down.

“That is
why I told you it would cause a lot of problems.” Zier said unhappily.

“Shut
up! What do you suggest then?” Klaycon asked impatiently.

“The way
I see it, he might be a spy who was sent here to collect intelligence.”

“And how
do you explain Gloria’s family badge?” Klaycon asked.

“That is
truth. Something is missing here.” Zier said.

“I am
thinking how he got here. He is from the training center. The second species
don’t have access to the hangars.” Didian said.

“I will
have someone check the hangars just in case.” Klaycon said.

“May I
suggest checking the museum as well?” Zier said.

“You
mean they took one of those antiques?” Nissen asked.

“Well.
You never know. Does he kill the monster make any sense to you? It just
happened. I will talk to my sister to check those things.” Klaycon said.

“What
about this human?” Didian asked.

“We
should bring him to the selection committee on our mother planet Sylareon. He
will be tried and punished for his behavior.” Zier said.

“Let’s
go to the assembly planet first, we are already running late. Then I will take
him to Sylareon and talk to my grandfather about this matter.” Klaycon said
hastily. The assembly planet was the destination of all space vessels taking
off from the finishing line. On that planet, all participants would go through
some evaluations to see if they have any physical and mental issues after the
selection.

“Didian,
set the course for the assembly planet. Zier, torture this human and found out
what he knows about Gloria’s family badge.” Klaycon said.

Didian
ran to the bridge and engaged the dark engine.

Right at
this moment, Erikon, Lucis and others on the cruiser just finished fixing the
leak and everyone of them was exhausted.

As
Erikon restarted the dark engine, others ran back to the bridge.

“Scan
the planet for G family badge! Hurry!” Gloria said quickly. She took some
medicine and now she was able to walk slowly.

Orizy
ran the scan. Everyone held their breath and stared at the screen.

“No
hit.” Orizy said sadly, casting his eyes down.

Overwhelmed
by remorse, Gloria busted into tears. Lucis froze in the chair, covering his
face in hands. Sayilin knew if he had eyes, he would cry just like Gloria did.
Erikon collapsed in the engine room, screaming in sorrow. Idi and Titainein
both cried.

The
great grief choked Gloria and suffocated her. She breathed heavily with tears
rolling down her cheeks.

“Orizy,
run it again.” Titainein said as she held back her tears.

It
returned with same result.

“Scan
the planet for his watch!” Titiainein said.

“Nothing.”
Orizy said sadly.

“Go to
the spot where he found me.” Gloria said slowly. She knew the odds was slim,
because even if the family badge malfunctioned, the scanner still could picked
up its signal. But if it was crashed, there wouldn’t be anything.

The
vessel speeded through clouds and suspended above the location where Gloria was
trapped. Thousands of monsters thronged the ground, fighting with each other.
They tore dead ones into pieces and consumed them. Everyone knew it was too
late. No one could survive in this situation. But they didn’t give up and
searched the surrounding area for hours.

“Sayilin,
he is gone. It’s too late.” Lucis said sadly.

“It’s
all your fault! It’s all your fault!” Idi yelled at Gloria.

Gloria
didn’t say a word. She crouched down on the deck, burying her face in her arms.

“Idi,
when he jumped out of the ship, he knew it.” Sayilin said in grief.

“Guys,
we have to go. We have to finish what Jason started.” Titainein said as she
looked around at everyone. She knew this was a hard decision.

“Gloria,
where you should go after the selection?” Titainein asked gently.

“Gloria,
we have tried everything.” Sayilin said slowly.

“Planet
Arigie, Sextans supercluster.” Gloria said with tears running down her face.

Sayilin
drove the cruiser into space, heading to Arigie.