AcQuest: A Space Opera Military Technothriller (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 3) (28 page)

Mission accomplished,
Burke thought, and the Lambda Driver dissolved him completely.

***

5-2

Q helped Taylor sit up and leaned her against the wall. His explosion left everyone devastated. Taylor though didn't seem to have any injuries. Everyone else lay sprawled over the floor. He felt a bit uncomfortable looking at Taylor. All that he could think about was Burke’s theory. Did Taylor and the Anti-verse Taylor share the same feelings?

No. It can’t be,
he thought. For years Taylor had taken care of him like he was her little brother. There was no way she would feel like that.

“You finally came,” Albion stood up and faced Q. A small trickle of blood ran down his forehead. His legs trembled as he struggled to stand still. The blast had hit him hard.

“My, my. What manners I have,” the White Knight King said. “I haven’t even welcomed our guest,” he looked behind Q, “Tobias, could you please welcome him for me?” he smirked.

Q turned around just in time to see a guy in white battle armor take aim at him with an oddly shaped blaster.

“On behalf of The White Knight King, Albion,” he finger teased the trigger. “I welcome you.” he fired.

His aim was perfect, and Q felt a sting on his neck. He felt around and pulled out an empty syringe. A single drop of purple liquid dropped from the syringe into the floor, and disappeared forever.

***

Taylor’s eyes widened the moment she saw the syringe. She turned to the White Knight King, her face filled with terror and anger at the same time. “You didn't,” she threatened him.

“On the contrary,” his voice turned deep, “I just did.”

“Give him the antidote,” she said. “I’ll take the serum instead. Just let him go!” The fear of having that horrible serum injected into her vanished at the thought of Q having to go through something so horrifying.

“Taylor what’re you-” Q stumbled and fell face first onto the floor.

Albion looked at him with empty, emotionless eyes, “The F.E.A.R has no antidote.”

Taylor stood still, her hands hanging by her side. It was over. There was no antidote. There was no saving Q. Their battle was over. The White Knight King had taken down the Wielder of Light.

She shook her head in denial. She refused to believe it was over, that there was no antidote, that Q was gone forever.

She ran up to him “Q! Get up,” she turned him onto his back. A gasp escaped from her lips.

Q’s eyes had turned dull white. His pupils had disappeared into nothing. His face lay expressionless and dead.

“The serum has taken over,” Albion said. “It has begun.”

***

Q tried to shout out to Taylor but his mouth didn't open up. He could see her and hear her but he couldn't do anything about it. He watched helplessly as tears formed in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

“Tobias. Take Master Q to the viewing gallery,” Albion ordered.

Q felt his body being hauled away. They headed into a corridor and stopped halfway through. Tobias pressed his hand against the blank wall, pushing a square block. A doorway slid open. Q tried to move his feet but it was no use. He didn't feel like he had been paralyzed though. It felt like he had no control of his body.

The men carried him through the doorway and into a room. He could see a huge table in the middle. A beacon hung over it and radiated an intense cone of light. The men placed him on the table and secured his limbs with energy bonds, which Q didn't understand at all. Why did an immobilized person have to be restrained? And with energy bonds?

His vision slowly turned into a deep black.
What’s going on?
he wondered. He felt tense. In seconds his vision had disappeared completely. The world around him turned dark. The blackness spread out and then receded all at once. He felt like a wave of darkness had washed over him and receded, pulling away every speck of black that it possibly could.

A canvas of vivid colors emerged from the darkness. He glanced around him. Trees swayed in the breeze, birds chirped in the air, and squirrels hunted the ground for nuts. He was back on Earth.

Then everything changed.

The bright brown trunks of the trees slowly wilted into a dark ghastly gray. The birds grew larger, their beaks becoming long and sharp, their colorful feathers turning black. The squirrels grew in size as well. Their bodies became a dark black and their teeth turned sharp and deadly.

The green grass turned to gray ash, and thorny brambles rose from the ground, flowing over the ground like creepers.

Q stepped back in horror. What was going on? It was like reality was…dying. The now-scary animals moved in towards him.

“Get away!” he yelled.

The birds flew towards him, their dark feathers scattering through the air. The squirrels, which were almost as large as he, charged on their nimble feet. The trees gained life of their own and swiped at him with their barren branches. His mind went crazy. Everything around him was changing. The sky became duller. The ground cracked up. The air filled with a murky stench. He ran away as fast as he could.

He glanced up at the sky. The Sun was no longer a bright warm yellow. It turned into an infuriating black, scorching his skin with its heat. His heart pumped from the strain. His mind rambled away and he felt weak and broken. He stopped running.

He turned around and focused. Maybe things would turn back to normal if he fought back. He held his hands out to the side and tried to summon his powers.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, concentrating even harder but he got the same result. Q became tense. Why wasn't he able to use his powers?

“
This is what you fear, little hero,
” boomed a deep voice. “
You fear being helpless. You fear losing all your precious powers. You fear that you will become that worthless, normal human being again.
”

The voice’s words wrapped around Q’s mind and in that moment of weakness, his mind had finally broken; fear had completely gripped his consciousness. He stood his ground and faced the wrath reality dealt upon him, his eyes empty and void.

“I give up.”

***

Kai sat still, unable to react. He was completely stunned.

Levi smiled at the stunned faces in front of him. “Surprised?” he smirked.

“You were the one who summoned the golems that day,” Elizabeth realized. The events from that day finally made sense.

“Ah yes,” he said. “I had to bring in a few compatriots of mine to create those behemoths. I do not possess the life energy required to summon Earth golems.”

“How could you betray us?” Juliana asked.

“I never betrayed you,” he said. “I was never on your side in the first place.”

Kai grit his teeth. A spy had slipped into the academy and they had all been completely oblivious to it.

Levi walked up to a side of the room and pressed a button. The wall retracted, revealing a multi-layered, glass wall behind it. Large icy waves rammed into the glass with tremendous force but the wall didn't budge.

Levi stared out into the wild waves in admiration. “Complete obliteration,” he whispered. “Such a beautiful thing.”

Kai trembled. This guy had lost his mind. He wasn't a living thing anymore. He was a mindless assassin.

“What do you plan to do with us?” Juliana asked, her voice quivering with anger.

“I will need to kill you,” Levi told them bluntly. “I would have preferred not to but I have strict orders.”

He’s got a higher up
, Kai realized. There was someone else who was making all the shots.

“Don't worry,” Levi said “I’ll still make your deaths worthwhile. See, they asked me to execute you with a little serum I helped develop, but I didn't like that plan. So instead,” he looked at the waves, “I’m going to let you go.”

“What?” Chris and Kai said in unison. Kai couldn't believe it. Levi was letting them go.

“He’s going to put us back on the surface,” Carlos muttered. “The planet’s going to be destroyed anyway.”

“What can I say,” Levi smirked. “Tough luck.”

“You’re going to kill us anyway. At least us how long before Zygrade is destroyed?” Carlos asked.

“You have an hour until the Hades is unleashed,” he said.

Kai clenched his fists. He couldn't believe Aliea was going to be destroyed. He had always believed they would ultimately save everyone from annihilation. Yet, here they were, just an hour from total destruction, and they were being held captive by the very people who were destroying their planet. He looked around the room.

“Don't even think about it” Levi glared at him.

“Think about what?” Kai said innocently.

“The room may be made of metal but there’s a man behind you with a serum we call F.E.A.R. Tear even one shred of metal off the wall and everyone gets injected.”

A man ran into the room. “Commander, it’s time,” he said.

“The Knights are here?” Levi asked, a little hint of tension in his voice.

Kai lifted his head.
Knights?
he thought. It had to be Taylor. She must have gotten help from the Dark Knights. Kai’s spirits lifted immediately, his hope renewed. They just might be able to save Aliea.

“Well, we don't want to keep them waiting,” Levi walked to the door.

Kai wondered why Levi was acting so confident. He figured he was just trying to act high and mighty in front of them.

Levi stopped at the doorway, “Let the prisoners spend their time in my cabin,” he told the guards and he turned around. “You have another half hour before we drop you off onto the planet. Have fun!” he smiled.

Kai stared at him blankly, his anger rising, and his helplessness calming him down.

“Oh, and before I leave,” Levi came back in and stood there, grinning like an idiot. “Activate!” he said. Two square sections of the wall opened up, and a pole came out of each square, with concentric circles of metal attached to them, their size decreasing the closer they were to its rounded edge.

“What are those things?” Kai asked.

“It’s just a little toy you guys can play with,” he said.

A loud hum filled the air, causing vibrations all over the room. Streams of electricity shot out of the poles and into the floor, forming a circle around everyone. The circle was odd though. It was a bright, solid circle with concentric ones within it. And between each pair of circles was a mix of blue and red runes.

Levi chuckled, “I should be more specific. It activates a little toy that would love to play with you,” he said and walked away.

Carlos tried to run after him but he fell flat on the ground like he was knocked back by some invisible barrier. “A force field,” he muttered.

Kai focused on the circle on the floor. He recognized those runes, and his brain worked hard, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. He heard a loud thud come from his right and he turned around to see Lisara and Trisha collapsed on the floor.

The beams of electricity stopped right after that, and the room turned dark. Kai looked around him, but he couldn't see anything but his friends. Even the cadets who had been guarding them disappeared.

“What is this place?” Juliana asked.

A bright light shone from the siblings’ chests. Trisha’s was blue and Lisara’s was red. The light floated out of their bodies, swirling around each other, as they rose higher into the air, until they finally merged together in a bright flash of light.

Kai shielded his eyes from the bright glow, and when he finally opened them up, he got the fright of his life. A huge machine stood in front of him, its body both black and white.

“The Ascalon,” Carlos whispered.

“There’s something wrong with it isn't there?” Kai asked.

Carlos hesitated.

“Carlos, if you don’t tell me, there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said.

The Nightmare creaked as its joints moved about, and then it stopped. Both of its cockpits opened up. A now unconscious Trisha and Lisara were lifted into the air by some invisible force, and floated into cockpits. The Ascalon secured both of its cockpits, and its body roared, as though its engines were being fired up.

Kai didn't recall the Ascalon having any mechanical engines. It had nuclear powered ones, and those never made a whisper. The machine’s huge arms pointed at everyone, and its fingers sunk into its arms, only to be replaced by a turning barrel attached with laser cannons.

“That can’t be good,” Kai said.

It scanned everyone in its vicinity, which at this point was just Kai, Juliana, and Carlos. That was when he realized that Elizabeth and Chris hadn't been sucked into wherever they were right now. He felt relieved knowing that Chris wasn't caught up in this.

The Ascalon roared and opened fire, blasting away at everyone. Carlos reacted instantly, throwing his arms into the air and creating a spherical shield of solid air around them. The blasts of energy hit the shield, making it ripple a bit, but the barrier of air still held strong. Kai’s mind kept playing back what the Brain had told him. It had been right. There was something seriously wrong with the Ascalon. But instead of running away like the Brain had suggested, Kai realized he needed to face the machine.