Paraworld Zero (17 page)

    No answer.

    Simon waited a while. As he turned to leave, Tonya finally said, “It’s just
not fair.”

    “What’s not fair?”

    “You… me… everything!”

    “What do you mean?”

    She ranted on and on. “I can’t stand living here. I can’t stand being treated
like an imbecile every day. If I have to eat another seed, I’ll go ballistic. I can’t bear to
think I’ve missed my first year of school. And most of all, I’m going crazy, not being able to
use magic! Speaking of magic, there aren’t any E.M. waves on this planet, but, somehow, you’re
able to do things that can only be explained by magic.”

    Simon realized she was referring to his newfound language abilities. “Tonya,
I don’t know how I’m able to speak the Pudo language,” he said. “I just talk like normal, and
everyone seems to understand me. To me, it sounds like everyone is speaking English.”

    “But that’s exactly how the language spell works,” she said.

    Simon lowered his chair to the ground and sat with his back to the door. In
the guest room, Tonya sat with her back pressed against the door as well.

    The girl continued, “Do you know how long it took me to learn the language
spell?”

    “How long?”

    “Three years.”

    “Wow! But you’ve mastered it now, haven’t you?”

    “Yes—well, sort of—but, Simon…” She paused. “When you cast the language
spell, you’re only supposed to be able to speak the same language as the people nearby. I don’t
even think the Guardians of the Crown would be able to learn a language that hasn’t been used for
hundreds of years—let alone learn it without E.M. waves.”

    Simon was dumbstruck. He thought for a moment that he should mention the
woman from his dreams but decided against it. “Tonya,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry you’re stuck on
this paraworld. Sometimes I feel a little out of place, and if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably go
crazy too.” The girl smiled, and Simon continued, “I think you’re wonderful—even without magic.
You and Thornapple are the best friends I’ve ever had. You’re the only friends I’ve ever had,
really—at least, my age. I’m not so sure if I want to go back to Earth anymore. This is the
closest thing I’ve ever had to a family.”

    The door opened suddenly, and Simon fell over backwards. Tonya knelt down and
gave him a warm embrace. A sweet fragrance entered the young boy’s nose as her long green hair
brushed against his cheek.

    Tonya, her face streaming with tears, whispered, “Thank you.”

    “Hey,” came a squeaky voice from behind, “don’t I get a hug, too?”

    Simon and Tonya stretched out their arms, and Thorn joined them in a group
hug.

Chapter 11
    

    

    The man’s deep-set eyes were light brown—almost a honey color—but in the
darkness of space, they looked like two lone stars being swept away into a black hole. He stared
out into the night with iron determination, like a hawk scanning its prey.

    An explosion of red light forced its way into the dark confines of his small
cockpit, revealing his face for a brief moment. Illuminated by the light, his nose appeared to be
slightly broken—probably from some battle long ago.

    The man’s name was Griffen Lasher—a devoted servant of the Crown, skilled
swordsman, and master of the healing arts. His journey had led him to the third moon of the
Centarious paraworld. Unfortunately, all that remained of the moon was crumbling pieces of rock
and dust; it had just been destroyed by General Mayham and Captain Drackus. In fact, the debris
was now rushing toward Griffen’s small shuttle craft.

    Griffen veered his ship away from the river of rock flowing in his direction.
Knowing that he’d never make it in time and feeling compelled to die facing his doom rather than
fleeing from it, he jerked the ship around and headed towards the onslaught of boulders.

    Surprisingly enough, his sharp reflexes allowed him to make it past the first
two waves of debris unscathed; however, his luck appeared to be running out. As he flew past a
mountainous piece of moon rock, the twin space carriers on the other side started shooting at
him. In an attempt to destroy his little vessel, they cleared a path through the asteroid field
with their lasers—unwittingly giving Griffen a small window to escape the rushing moon rocks. But
as he zipped through the opening, a small rock tore through his outer hull, while another glided
off the metal plating of his ship and collided with a boulder, splitting it in two.

    Griffen flew between the pieces of fragmented boulder and headed full force
towards the space carriers. He was welcomed with a shower of laser fire that rived his craft and
sent him spiraling. In a desperate act of valor, he plunged his burning ship downward, as if to
ram the carrier commanded by Captain Drackus.

    Dodging the barrage of laser fire and rubble, Griffen flung his ship closer
and closer to the enormous carrier. He was only meters away when he saw the main cannon erupt in
bright color as it fired some sort of explosive in his direction. Instantly, the trained pilot
yelled out a magical word and slammed his fist onto the ejection button—just in time to be
jettisoned from the ship. A globe of clear liquid engulfed his body, protecting him from the cold
void of space.

    The shock wave of the explosion sent him hurling towards the space carrier.
Griffen’s lungs burned for the want of air as the long seconds ticked by. He grasped at the walls
of the bubble—resembling a chicken trying to free itself from an egg—but the transparent shell
did not break.

    The round ball smashed into the space carrier. Similar to a drop of acid
eating its way through metal, the sphere dissolved a section of the thick protective plating and
created a sizable hole. Then the magical orb split open, expelling Griffen into the ship with a
gush of liquid—like a baby emerging from the womb.

    Gasping for air and slipping on the wet floor, the brave warrior drew his
glowing sword. In the dim light, he looked to be of average height and build, yet there was
something different about him… something mysterious and exciting. Shocked at seeing the
intruder’s fantastic entrance, the men and women in the room jumped from their seats and fled out
the doors.

    Griffen wiped the gooey residue from his arms and face and flicked the
strange substance onto the ground. Bubbling and steaming, the curious liquid danced on the
metallic floor and then subsided.

    He turned briefly to see the thick skin of the magical sphere weld itself to
the ship, sealing the breach. Peering out of the makeshift window, Griffen looked past the
remnants of his spacecraft and saw the turmoil that the loss of a moon was causing on the
parallel world below. The two remaining moons obviously weren’t compensating enough to offset the
disproportionate surge of gravity the planet was now experiencing.

    Suddenly, all three doors in the room opened, and in rushed a dozen soldiers
carrying guns. They surrounded Griffen completely.

    With a charming smile on his face, he ran his fingers through his short black
hair and said, “Gentleman, can any of you please point me to the nearest bathroom?”

    Grunting incoherently, a few of the soldiers took off their helmets and
stepped closer, allowing Griffen to see that they were Skydroes—hired mercenaries from an
off-limit parallel world. The skilled warrior calmly lowered his sword and reached into his vest
pocket with his free hand, upon which all twelve guns jerked in response. Slowly, Griffen brought
out a pair of black sunglasses.

    “Hold on, boys. They’re just glasses,” he said coolly.

    Griffen put them on and looked around at the werewolf-like men. Saliva ran
down their hairy faces, and their dirty clothing smelled of urine.

    “Now aren’t you a sorry bunch? Looks like none of you have any idea where the
bathroom is either.” Griffen chuckled. “All right then—”

    With lightning speed, he threw up his hand and released an explosion that
blinded the Skydroes’ sensitive eyes. He sliced his unusual sword through four soldiers before
they even knew what had happened. A yellow light enveloped the body of each victim for a brief
moment and then dissipated.

    Griffen continued to mow down the soldiers, one by one. Some of them began to
recover from the initial explosion, so he raised his hand again, but nothing happened. There
wasn’t enough E.M. energy in the area to complete the spell.

    Still dazed, the Skydroes fired their weapons. Griffen jumped over a desk and
crashed into one of the unsuspecting soldiers. He lost his grip as he landed, and his sword slid
across the floor.

    Before Griffen could react, a muscular hand tightened around his neck and
lifted his whole body off the ground. The ugly Skydroe snarled ferociously and bared his sharp,
yellowing teeth as he held his captive in the air. Griffen noticed the careless soldiers
preparing to fire. He clutched the Skydroe’s shoulders, placed his feet on the creature’s knees,
and kicked off into a handstand long enough for a volley of lasers to hit the soldier squarely in
the chest.

    They both fell. Griffen immediately rolled across the floor, using the dead
Skydroe as a shield. Once he reached his sword, he tossed the scorched body to the side and
slashed at the remaining soldiers. The mercenaries were crude fighters, despite their unnatural
strength, and it didn’t take long before Griffen was the only one standing.

    “Computer!” he yelled, striding to the main console.

    A chime signaled, which indicated that the computer was listening.

    “Show me where the main database is located,” he commanded.

    “
Access denied
,” came the cold reply.

    “Oh, come on. Give me a hint.”

    “
Access denied
.”

    “Computer, what room is this?”

    “
Engineering
.”

    “Excellent. Now show me the layout of the ship.”

    A layout of the ship appeared before him, but after scanning the many
corridors and rooms, he couldn’t make up his mind where the main computer was hiding. Just then,
he noticed sparks coming from a series of wires that had been torn out of the wall during the
fight.

    “Where do those wires lead to?”

    “
Access denied
.”

    “Look! This is engineering, right? I can’t fix the damage to the ship unless
I know what it is I’m repairing. Now show me where those wires lead to.”

    Within a nanosecond, the computer system processed thousands of possible
scenarios and deductive solutions. In the end, its artificial reasoning came up with the
conclusion that the wires did, in fact, need to be rerouted or else the engineering department
would be seriously crippled.

    The naive computer announced, “
Limited access granted
.”

    “Thank you.”

    The map of the ship expanded to show more detail. Wires and conduits ran to
each room like spaghetti.

    “I don’t care about the power lines. Take them out.”

    Many of the wires disappeared.

    “Get rid of communications,” he added.

    Wires used for communications vanished as well. One more quick glance at the
map, and Griffen noticed that most of the remaining network cables could be traced back to one
central location on the ship.

    “What’s in that room?” he asked, pointing to the map.

    “
Access denied
.”

    He laughed, quite amused that the computer system was so easy to fool. “Thank
you, computer. You’ve been most helpful.”

    “
You’re welcome.
”

    A chill of uneasiness ran down his spine when he heard those words. Cracking
the system was just too easy. It was as though someone
wanted
him to find the main computer room. Just then, it occurred to him that no audible
alarm had gone off when he entered the space carrier. In fact, other than the first onslaught of
soldiers, he couldn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary—no footsteps of additional
soldiers coming to burst into the room, no sirens, no flashing lights… just the faint buzz of
severed electrical wires giving off sporadic sparks.

    Cautiously, he walked over to the transportation tube. The door was already
conveniently open. He stepped inside, and the computer’s soft voice asked, “
Destination?
”

    “Take me to the third floor.”

    “
Access denied!
”

    Griffen had no time to respond. The floor beneath him suddenly dropped.
Everything became a blur as his body was hurled down several decks. With tremendous speed, the
tube sent him racing through the space carrier until it finally spit him out into a dark and
spacious room.