Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford (23 page)

There was so much to think about in
relation to Voriaku’s words. First off, how did he know what heaven
and hell were? Aren’t the Selentors atheists? Perhaps they knew
from studying human beliefs. Furthermore, there was the idea that
Voriaku actually sounded like he had a heart. On the other hand, he
still made Andrew’s life a living hell. He thought about life on
Earth, about all the lives of the people that Andrew and Voriaku
did not know, how each and every one of them could have such an
amazing story were it not for the negative interference of others.
But Andrew suddenly lost track of his thoughts, and he didn’t know
what he was thinking about anymore. All he did was stare at the
ceiling some more. He really was dead, in a way. Because he did
nothing. Because he could feel nothing.

He could see Voriaku raise the blade.
Now was time.

But like everything else that happened
on this ship, perhaps as anything could in life, things changed in
an instant. Commander Fall walked into the corridor with Juvir by
his side, and both of them were wearing armor with pouches and
belts for tools and weapons. Neither one of them bound the
other—each of them walked on their own accord.

Fear shot up through Voriaku’s being.
In hasty response, he used the blade right away and cut off
Andrew’s head.

Chapter 23

Blood splattered towards the left side of the hall
from where Voriaku was facing. Because Andrew still had blood left
in his head, however, he still retained a few seconds of
consciousness before he truly died. He was able to hear Juvir
remark, “Too late for that.” Andrew’s last thoughts, resonating
with betrayal and disappointment, soon faded to black.

Voriaku kicked the head to the side,
put back his blade, and raised his hands in front of his body.
“Look, see? He’s dead! Just like you wanted—”

“You killed him too late,” Fall
remarked.

“But only by a second!”

“That doesn’t
matter. I specifically ordered you to kill him before I could see
that horrid wretch alive again. Even more so, I didn’t say that you
could toy with him for so long that you would end up getting
philosophical. I wanted to see his pain,
and that was that!
”

“I wanted to change him!”

“I DID NOT WANT HIM
TO BE AN INTEL-BEING!!! EVER! He was a savage that was meant to die
a savage!
”

Fall began to see the hatred and
insubordination written upon Voriaku’s face. The Commander relaxed,
inhaled deeply, then exhaled. He said, “You failed me. You must
face the consequences.”

Voriaku lunged forward with his plasma
blade, facing the consequences. Quickly, Fall brought out a
futuristic shotgun from behind his back and aimed. It was a heavy
duty vaporizing blaster, which the Commander fired with incredible
accuracy. Voriaku was torn by his skin, then his muscles, and
finally his bones, until there was nothing left of him except for a
shadow of particles on the floor. But Andrew’s severed head was
left intact, for it was just out of range.

The Selentor officer put the blaster
behind his back, having nothing to regret. Juvir commented, “It’s a
shame when the unexpected happens, doesn’t it?”

“Just stop where you’re at, Juvir, and
don’t move until I can see you.”

Fall turned around to face Juvir, who
had a strange blade in his hand.

“Predictable.”

“How could I not be?”

“Just fight me, already.”

“You asked for it.”

When Juvir swung the blade, a hot gas
shot out from the tip—as well as from several tiny holes in the
blade—which burst into flames, increasing the temperature of the
surrounding area. Fall backed away quickly in order to escape the
fire and bring out his vaporizing blaster. Considering the heat of
the room, he was decently protected by his suit—except for his
head. Before he could bring out a helmet-capsule from his pocket,
Juvir lunged forward and attacked with the blade again. It failed
to touch Fall again, but it struck Andrew’s severed
head.

This blade was not the same one Andrew
found in the Selentors’ armory. Rather, it was an up-to-date
version that was far more efficient and versatile.

Both Juvir and Fall noticed the
severed, burning head beside them. Fall aimed the blaster at it,
but Juvir knocked the blaster out of the way towards the wall. When
the Selentor Commander fired, the vaporizing energy coming out of
the weapon had been absorbed by the wall. Juvir kicked Fall out of
the hall with substantial force, then he picked up the head and
pressed a button on a device attached to his arm. A flashing light
enveloped Andrew’s head while it was on Juvir’s hand, disappearing
after two seconds.

“You….” uttered Fall
menacingly, “why won’t you leave that savage
be???
”

“I should ask you the same
question.”

“That bastard was a disgrace to me, my
authority, and this entire ship!”

“Exactly why I find him
useful.”

“…
.I’m not letting you use
him as an excuse for breaking the treaty.”

“Me? You broke the treaty long ago.
Your robotic clone from earlier even said so.”

“What clone?”

“The one that tried to blow me
up.”

Fall stood silently.

“Come on. It’s your turn.”

In response, the Commander fired his
blaster, directly hitting Juvir. However, the blast did nothing,
and Juvir was left unscathed; he smiled. Fall kept his composure
and reduced the size of the blaster so it turned into a
capsule.

“Being cocky with that special armor
of yours—it’s just annoying.” He pulled out a different capsule
that expanded into a blade—one that would not only nullify the
armor, but also withstand Juvir’s fire-sword.

Juvir and Fall struck swords at the
same time, causing a spark to fly up from the impact. They moved
their swords back and struck again. And again, and again until Fall
got a hit in. He sliced right through Juvir’s left arm and part way
into his torso. Juvir winced and groaned a little, but he did
nothing else. He still had his fire-sword in the remaining hand,
but he did not strike. Instead, he ran backwards quickly while Fall
charged forward. Juvir only got six feet back before Fall swung his
sword again. The AOIB officer defended himself using the blade as
he stepped back some more. Within seven seconds, however, his hand
grew back and the tear in his torso regenerated to leave only a
scar. Along with the rapid regeneration gene, he had plenty of
nutrients and energy in his system, making it unnecessary for him
to take any strange pills or liquids for now.

Despite being unhappy about receiving
a wound, Juvir put away his sword. As the miweri reached into a
pouch onto his belt, Fall reacted by taking a step back. He knew
Juvir wasn’t going to pull out another sword—no, it had to be a
vaporizer, or perhaps a short-range weapon. So Fall brought out his
vaporizing blaster from before, waiting for Juvir’s move. However,
to his surprise, the AOIB vice-president did not bring out
something that resembled a weapon. It was just a sphere—at least,
it appeared to be—and the Selentor could not recognize the device
in Juvir’s hand right away. Once he saw the array of
visually-confusing lights coming out from it, however, he instantly
knew. He grew nauseous and ended up vomiting onto the floor after a
few seconds. He fell onto one knee, with the other foot still
firmly placed onto the ground, and clutched his abdomen, dropping
the blaster. A vaporizing system from within the floor cleared up
the vomit, just like it did at the AOIB headquarters.

When Fall looked up, he noticed Juvir
had the blade back in his hand, only the blade was right up to the
Selentor’s neck. From deep underneath the mask of power and
authority he held, Fall couldn’t help expressing fear in his eyes.
Juvir looked down upon him and stated, “Go ahead. Say what you
want.”

“Alright, then. ‘Code
Red.’”

The very moment he said “Code Red,”
several doors opened in the halls, with a stampede of footsteps to
follow. Selentor soldiers were running towards them in order to
defend Fall and eliminate Juvir. However, moments later, a series
of loud noises and shouting occurred from the halls.

“What
the….wait—
you didn’t!
”

Juvir grinned.

Within both of the officers’ sights,
there were a few soldiers fighting each other, two of them clad in
red armor and the other three in white armor. All of the soldiers
with white armor were Selentors, whereas the other guys were AOIB
soldiers. One of the white-armored soldiers ran towards Juvir with
a vaporizer pistol, but before he could reach him, Juvir quickly
cut off the Commander’s head. The soldier stopped in his tracks,
unveiling an expression of shock. However, he quickly retaliated
against his grief and sprang towards Juvir in a fit of rage. He
shot repeatedly, but Juvir either dodged the shots or let them
bounce off his invisible armor. It was a special armor made to
stand up against vaporizing rays, like how the walls in the ship
were immune. Juvir stepped over the dead Commander and punched the
Selentor soldier right in the belly. The soldier was sent flying
backwards at least twenty feet.

When the soldier landed onto the
ground, another soldier, this time in red armor, stepped into the
hallway and said, “Sir! We’ve cleared out a passage for you! We’ll
handle it from here!”

“Good work—I’ll return to the ship immediately. But
about the human, Andrew Lockeford….did his head make it back
safely?”

“It’s regenerating in one of the rehabilitation
tanks as we speak, sir.”

Chapter 24

Both the Selentors’ ship and the AOIB ship were the
size of mountains, and yet they had such precision in flying that
either one can attach to the other flawlessly. This enabled Juvir
to go onto the Selentor ship without having to hack into their
teleporting system. Andrew never really had the opportunity to see
these ships. One, because the Selentor ship he saw on Earth simply
transported him to the mothership while he was unconscious; two,
because when he escaped the first time, he blacked out before he
got to see the full size of the ship he had gotten away from. The
AOIB mothership was hidden underground, and it was not the same one
Andrew saw when he was transported to the giant volcano
Erlenkeymll, so he never experienced the true awe of such a
sight.

Andrew was alive again. In some way.
In two ways, really. He was breathing, and he could feel a pulse in
his body. But something was off. Something didn’t feel right about
his body, although he was technically in perfect condition. He was
conscious before he opened his eyes, and he was afraid to do
anything at all because he was unsure whether he was dead or alive.
Was he in heaven? Or was he still alive, by some miraculous chance?
He was too frightened by the reality of the situation, and he
didn’t know what lay before him.

Did he go insane from everything that
happened in his existence? Was it possible to be insane while dead
and in heaven? Perhaps he was insane in thinking so, but then that
would be a contradiction—

Breaking the silence, a familiar voice
called out to him, yelling, “Hey! Wake up, already!” It was Anzem’s
voice; this forced Andrew to open his eyes, and finally he saw the
truth. Or at least whatever lay itself before him.

He knew he was alive
now. He could see Anzem, Shul, and Juvir in front of him, along
with….a human. A huge human that looked a
lot
like him, only he had
reddish-pink skin on its face. The rest of the human’s body was
covered in the usual black suit. There were all looking at
Andrew.

“Well?” said Shul. “How do you
feel?”

Andrew looked at his hand, discovering
that there were no fingerprints on it. No hairs or pores, either.
His skin felt smooth and almost rubbery. There was no saliva in his
mouth, although the dryness didn’t seem to bother him. He still had
a tongue; he still had eyes and ears and a nose. And
yet….

“What did you do to me?”

“You?” said Juvir. “We didn’t change
anything about you, if that’s what you mean. This one over here,
however….” He was pointing to the human beside him. “This guy had
to go through an entire reconstruction because of all the damage
he’s taken. Care to share the story, Andrew?” The human
nodded.

However, before the human spoke,
Andrew interrupted by saying, “Wait a minute, is his name Andrew as
well? Is he some kind of copy of me of something?”

“Actually, he
is
Andrew.
You
are a copy of
him
.”

“What?”

“You’re an android,” said the human.
“I am the original, you are the artificial twin.”

Andrew—or rather, the android—found it
hard to speak out of initial disbelief. He stared at the large
human, who really was the true Andrew Lockeford, for a few seconds,
trying to find a fault. Hair, wrinkles, and even the occasional
freckles were found on his face, exactly as he was familiar with.
The only thing he did not accept was the red skin. It looked like a
giant sunburn.