The Rising Sun: Episode 2 (3 page)

“Believe me,” the man continued. “The worst
part of this situation is not that I will kill off every one of
your citizens with my very hands,” He raised his hands, with long,
talon like nails. “The worst part of this situation … is that I
will make all of you watch.”

The entire office watched in horror as a
group of other suited men - the other terrorists disguised as air
hostesses - walked over, spreading down the line of seats. They
were all standing beside one passenger each along the line of seats
visible within the holo screen’s range. And then, as one, all of
the suited men dug into their pockets and produced Sparklers. They
stood spread down the cruiser’s hall with unconscious passengers,
and positioned their Sparklers at one unconscious passenger
each.

The eyeless man standing in front of the
screen, shook his head slowly. “You may want to consider playing
along, because the rest of my men may not be as kind or as patient
as me.”

The effect of the man’s words sank through
the silence like a knife.

The president took a deep, calming breath,
and broke the silence with his steady voice:

“What do you want?”

The man uttered a harsh chuckle, and the
z-com’s camera shook slightly as he did.

“What, indeed?” he said.

The screen spun around to show the line of
passengers. The man walked in front of the screen, stopping by the
side of one of the seats. There was a young boy slumped on it,
blissful to the gravity of the predicament he was now in.

“This here is young Onix,” said the man,
smiling. “Travelling to the planet Artos to meet his
grandparents.”

The pale skinned man placed a gentle hand on
the boy’s shoulder.

“You have one chance to be good to this young
man here.” His soft, sharp voice might have passed as a hiss.
“Because if I don’t hear the response I want,” He turned to gaze
ruefully at Onix, his hand stroking the side of his cheek. “You’ll
watch as dear Onix’s neck snaps like a twig.”

The president felt his nails dig into his
flesh as he clenched his fists. He had to take another deep breath,
before he spoke. “Tell us what you want!”

“Oh, but you already know, Mr. President.”
said the man, and he gave another twisted smile. “You’ve always
known.”

He spent a second to resume stroking the side
of Onix’s face, before looking back at the screen. “I want …
File D.
”

For the first time, there were voices in the
room. Confused voices.

“File – what?”

“What did he say he wants?”

“What the hell is file D?”

“What is this?”

The president continued to hold the man in
the screen in an iron hard stare, while the rest of the men in the
room whispered to each other.

The defense minister stepped forth at last,
addressing the man in the screen.

“Listen,” he said, with the air of someone
pushed beyond his usual borders of calm. “We would love to give you
what you want -”

“So would Onix,” said the man, scratching the
boy’s neck with his creepy, long fingernail.

“-but you need to speak out. What the hell is
file D?”

The man continued to gaze at the defense
minister for a curious second, before his eyes carried back to the
centre. To the president.

“Mr. president, I suggest you begin listening
to reason. Because
first
…” His hands enclosed tighter around
the boy’s neck, his sharp black fingernails piercing the poor kid’s
flesh. The president winced, watching beads of red ooze from the
boy’s neck. “There will be blood. And
then
,” He turned to
gaze down the line of seats. The rest of the men tightened their
grip around their Sparklers. Getting ready to fire anytime now.
“there will be fireworks.”

The president stepped forward, mustering
every ounce of calm residing in him.

“I’m asking one last time,” he said, his own
face inches before the holographic screen. They were inches apart
from each other now. Lunatic terrorist, and politician leader.
“What – do – you - want?”

He stared into the man’s blank eye sockets …
and the man gazed back just as unflinchingly, unmoving. He didn’t
have eyes … But he could see.

Ignoring the tingle of horror, the president
kept focus.

“What do you want?” he repeated softly.

“File D.”

The man’s hands tightened around the
unconscious boy’s throat. His fingernails dug deeper into his flesh
and the beads of blood trickled down his neck. Some of the
ministers made sounds of disgust and repulsion, and some of them
pleaded with the man. But his soulless black sockets didn’t move
from the president’s. And he seemed oblivious to the rest of the
members of the office …

The president let silence hover between them,
his eyes boring into the black abyss that formed the man’s
eyes…

There’s no other way,
The realization
gave way inside of him, and a twisting sensation occurred in his
gut.
This will cost us … but it’s the only way.

“I have what you’re looking for. I have file
D.” he said, a bare whisper escaping his lips. “And I shall send
it. Now let these innocent people go. We’ll have the file sent
digitally.”

The rest of the room had their eyes strapped
onto the president. Some of them had their mouths slightly ajar,
looking stunned. Most of them looked confused, puzzled at what was
going on. But the president would have time to explain later.

File D…

He took a deep breath, and forced down his
guilt. But he knew there was no other way. He would not stand by
and watch innocent civilians die for it…

“I’ll have it sent to this z-com through
which you’ve called me.” repeated the president. “And then, you
leave those people in peace.”

“Good choice.” The man said, giving a mild
nod.

The screen disappeared, and a piercing
silence fell over the room.

“Wait, so there is a–a file D?” began the
defense minister.

“File D…” the president repeated, feeling the
words he uttered scald his throat slightly. He slowly turned and
faced the rest of the office, all of whom had their eyes locked
onto him.

“Where do we begin?” he said softly. “First
off … let’s hope that the Naxim ever forgives me for this.”

__________

The holographic screen hung right atop
Zardin’s z-com, showing the rate of file transfer:

99% OF FILE TRANSFERRED

“And one percent later,” said Zardin, holding
the z-com higher, so that its screen rose along with it. “The world
would be a changed place…”

He stood inside of the air hostesses’ room
with his men standing around him, all of them looking into his
screen, waiting…

And then the display on the screen
changed:

TRANSFER COMPLETE

Zardin slowly lowered the z-com, and its
holographic screen dissolved into thin air. He pocketed the device,
and strode out into the large hall of the cruiser, drawing in a
deep, clean breath of air. Then, he gave a wide glance about the
large hall, and exhaled. “Mission accomplished.”

The words struck a thrilling effect on the
large hall: the rest of the suited men looked at Zardin with a new
fervour in their faces.

“That was rather easy, my lord.” commented
one of them, permitting give Zardin a mild bow.

“Yes, a little bit of persuasion usually
yields results.” Zardin glanced down the hallway, with the
unconscious passengers’ heads slackened on either side. “And my
ways of persuasion are the finest of all, aren’t they?”

“Always are.” one of them said.

“File D…” Zardin wandered into thought for a
moment, and there was a new spark in his every thought now that
they had achieved it. Achieved success in the second stage of this
crucial journey. “File D was a top secret file held by the Naxim …
classified above top secret, as matter of fact. A file they had
branded as the single most classified file in existence. It had
been recently handed to the president of the planetary republic of
Dragor for safekeeping. The president was to maintain utter secrecy
regarding the existence of the file. Nobody, not even the rest of
his office, could know.” He gave an amused laugh. “It’s too bad all
those efforts in keeping the file safe went to complete waste.”

The men laughed cruelly.

“Now that our task here is done,” Zardin
said. “Let’s leave while fate allows it.”

“How?” one of them asked, glancing out the
windows by the side of the hall.

“Like any other large vessel, this cruiser
has escape pods. We leave on one of them.” Gesturing for the men to
follow, Zardin strode down the hall. His men gathered and fell in
line behind him as he briskly strode down the hall. Together, they
reached the hatch where the cruiser had its emergency escape
shuttles. They boarded one of the small escape pods and left the
cruiser, shooting down the abyss of space.

Inside the escape pod, Zardin stood in the
middle of the small circular room, while the rest of the men had
seated themselves around it.

File D is now in our hold,
Zardin
thought.
And soon … there won’t be a thing that isn’t.
He
drew the z-com from his pocket and held it for a second, feeling as
though his hands were casing a revered, priceless treasure: Hidden
within the depths of his z-com, was now the instrument for building
another world … and tearing down this one. And it had been
something Zardin and the men had long sought.

“What’s the next step, if I may ask, lord?’
asked one of the men.

“There is one final thing we need.” answered
Zardin. “One final thing that needs to be done … And I will attend
to this personally.”

The other cloaked figures nodded, observing
the respectful silence that they usually did when facing their
leader.

“Oh, and speaking of last things,” said
Zardin, smiling as he reached into his pocket. “Here’s a parting
present to our beloved friends.” He pulled out a familiar small
device with a red button on it. And he pressed the button.

__________

Cruiser 802 exploded with a radiant blast of
orange that devoured miles of black space around it. The collected
debris that was the cruiser went scattering across space for miles
across,spreading its fiery remains all over…

The ground rose and fell sharply in a harsh,
rocky terrain.

Crouching low beneath one of the outgrowths
on the land were two figures clad in deep blue robes. Their faces
were wrapped with a black scarf, leaving a mere strip open for
their eyes. The two of them sat hidden behind the large rock,
scanning the distance beyond them. It had taken Qyro and Vestra
almost half an hour or so to reach here. A journey between planets
within the inner spectrum might have taken nothing more than a few
feeble minutes. But a journey from the outer spectrum, to a planet
in the inner spectrum would require at least half an hour. Farnor,
the planet the Nyon hid in, lay at the beginning of the outer
spectrum. If it had been deeper into the outer spectrum, this
journey could have even taken hours.

The two of them were now sitting less than a
few miles from their destination. Their hover boards lay on the
ground behind them, while they peered across the rocky lands. To
any stray dweller, nothing would have been visible except for the
horizon. But to them and their powerful mystical eyesight, there
was more out there, across the lands they were now gazing at. They
could trace the faint edges of the buildings that rose in the
village, sprouting against the horizon far beyond. Their target
village. The rebel controlled village. It could be made out very
faintly. They estimated the distance between where they sat
crouched now, and the village, to be nothing more than three
miles.

“Well, we’re here.” said Qyro. “Let’s not
keep the rebels waiting, shall we?”

“Absolutely not.” said Vestra.

And the two of them sprang forth and dove
into a high speed, cross country sprint towards their destination.
The completely unsuspecting village.

As soon as they had arrived at the border of
the village, they knew. Something was not right…

The entire place was immersed in the
strangest, gloomiest silence.

“What the hell’s goin on?” whispered Qyro,
looking at Vestra. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a
cemetery, and not a village. Why’s everything so quiet?”

The two of them edged by the back of the wall
of the first house that came in sight, inside of the village as
they entered it.

Vestra let her head twist around beyond the
wall backing her, and ran her eyes down the completely deserted
lane that came ahead of them.

Qyro continued looking ahead. And he thought
he saw a figure in a long white cloak strolling down a nearby lane
… and he also thought he saw a Sparkler in the man’s hands.