Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (29 page)

The moment Heylon turned on the
screen and showed Lilen to Jason, Lisania was able to locate Lilen by reading
Heylon’s mind. She saw a image of a house at the edge of the slum. When Tioto
and his men focused all attention on Jason, she found the house. There were
only three guards, she gave them the notion that Tioto wanted to see them. Two
of them left and Lisania killed the one left behind by tricking him to walk on
one of the mines around the house. Then she rescued Lilen. When she contacted
Jason, she and Lilen were hiding in a valley.

Lisania
didn’t fully understand why Jason wanted her to cover her eyes and ears. But
when she sensed Jason was closing in, she soon found out the Glycan girl Gloria
was with him. It wasn’t that hard, because Jason kept thinking of her. Lisania
also read Gloria’s mind and learned why she was here. For Lisania, she hated
Glycan in her guts, but she didn’t want to fight Gloria especially when Lilen
was dying. Right now she was thinking how to explain this to Jason.

When the
vessel reached the location, Jason jumped out and ran to Lisania, followed by
Gloria. Lisania was holding Lilen in her arms.

“How is
she?” Jason asked hastily.

“Jason,
she is dying. It’s too late.” Lisania said sadly.

Gloria
noticed the cloth covering Lisania’s eyes and ears, wondering how a girl
rescued an old lady with her eyes closed.

“Let’s
get out of here first.” Gloria said calmly.

Jason
carried his grandma on the back and they all got into the vessel. It blasted
off into the outer space.

Lilen
was in deep coma, murmuring something Jason couldn’t understand, her leg
swollen three time the size of a normal leg.

Gloria
walked to Jason and asked, “How is she?”

“I don’t
know.” Jason said sadly.

“This
works for Glycan. I am not sure how it will work for Human.” Gloria said as she
showed Jason an instrument in her hand.

“What is
it used for?”

“It is
like a robot doctor.”

“Go
ahead.”

Gloria switched
on the instrument. Beams of blue light scanned Lilen’s body. After a minute,
Gloria looked at Jason and sighed.

“What is
it?” Jason asked nervously.

“Jason,
it’s too late.” Gloria said sadly.

“What do
you mean it’s too late? You are Glycan and you can’t save her! She is still
alive. She is breathing.” Jason barked at Gloria like an animal.

Gloria
didn’t say a word. She understood Jason’s feeling.

Jason
was trembling in anger. He left Lilen and headed to the weapon bay.

“What
are you going to do?” Gloria asked as she was following behind Jason.

“You
want to take a guess?” Jason said angrily.

“You
want to use the combat suit? Jason. There is no time for that. You are in
danger. That’s why I am here.” Gloria said as she grabbed Jason’s shoulder.

“I don’t
care. I am going to kill all of them.” Jason said firmly.

“You
might die before that.” Gloria said calmly.

“What do
you mean?” Jason turned around, staring at Gloria.

“There
are some bacteria draining your bone marrow and leeching your life. You will
die if we don’t get the cure.” Gloria said emotionally.

“Then I
need to hurry.” Jason said decisively.

“You
think they are still there after they saw us and the vessel.” Gloria said
calmly.

“I will
kill what I find.” Jason shouted and turned away.

Gloria
knew wouldn’t listen to her at this moment. She took out a stun gun from her
pocket and aimed it at Jason.

Just at
this moment, Jason heard a voice in his brain. It was Lisania and she was
warning him. He turned around and Gloria fired. He fell on the deck like a
stone.

Gloria
ran to Jason and held him in her arms. She cried and said, “Sorry. Sorry.”

Lisania
walked to Gloria and said, “I still can’ believe you did this.”

Gloria
was scared and quickly turned around. She saw Lisania and now Lisania wasn’t
covering her eyes and ears with cloth. She immediately realized that Lisania
was a Hylocan.

“I was
wondering how a blind girl could rescue his grandma.” Gloria said in surprise.

“He
didn’t tell you? I guess you two have some problem in your relationship.”
Lisania said in a provocative tone.

“That is
funny.” Gloria said angrily as she pointed the gun at Lisania.

“Really?”
Lisania’s voice was echoing in Gloria’s brain.

“I guess
we can save the trouble of speaking it out.” Gloria thought in her mind.

“You are
damn right. I always want to meet you to see what you look like. Unfortunately,
you are not as beautiful as I imagined. Pull the trigger. What are you waiting
for?” Lisania flashed a brittle smile.

“Shut
up.”

“You
think when you think about firing the gun, I will know and dodge. It takes you
this long to figure that out?”

Gloria
fired the gun, but Lisania had seen it coming and dodged the shot. She darted
to Gloria, dodged another shot, and then kicked the gun away.

Gloria
took a swipe at Lisania, her uniform transforming into an armor suit in a
blink. Lisania blocked the punch easily.

“You
know I see your every move. Why waste your time? I don’t want to fight with
you. I know why you are here. I care about Jason as much as you do”

“Shut
up.” Gloria shouted angrily. She attacked Lisania like crazy, but couldn’t even
made a scratch on her. But she didn’t stop until she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Do you
want to take a break? You see, it is very easy for me to kill you. Do you know
why I didn’t do that?”

“Oh,
yea?” Gloria shouted as she threw a punch at Lisania’s face. Lisania avoided it
as if she was dancing around Gloria.

“If I
kill you, Jason will kill me without any hesitation. That is the last thing I
want.”

“You
don’t need to worry about that. I will kill you first.” Gloria said and darted
to Lisania.

“I could
save him from the bacteria.”

Gloria
suddenly stopped and asked, “How do you do that?”

“As we
all know, it is bloody difficult to catch Tiegotteen. But if you know their
next move, even if they move like lightning, it will be much easier.” Lisania
pointed at her eyes.

“I don’t
need your help!” Gloria snarled.

“I am
not helping you. You idiot!” Lisania sneezed at Gloria.

Gloria
paused for several seconds and asked, “You can read Tiegotteen’s minds?”

“We
don’t have time for 100 questions.”

“They
really should kill you all.” Gloria said as her armor suit transformed back to
an uniform.

“Fuck
you!” Lisania shouted.

Gloria
walked to Jason and lifted him from the floor. After carrying Jason several
steps, she stopped and set him on the ground. He was too heavy for her.

Lisania
rolled her eyes at Gloria and said, “You tired?”

“Listen,
this is the last thing I want. If you want to save Jason, we need to work
together. Do you understand?” Gloria said coldly.

“I don’t
need your help.” Lisania said easily.

“Oh,
yea? Can you carry him on your own?” Gloria asked ironically.

“This is
for him. You remember that!” Lisania said as she walked to Jason.

They
carried Jason into a compartment and put him on a bed.

Gloria, Lisania and Jason were
on the way to planet Roito where Tiegotteen resided. Its surface was covered by
a thick crust of ice. Beneath the ice, there were deep oceans hosting all kinds
of weird creatures and Tiegoteen was one of them. The legend had it that they
lived in the deepest part of the oceans where it was completely dark and
extremely cold.

It would
take six hours to reach Roito and right now they were half way through.

Gloria
was staying with Jason the whole time. She was worried that Lisania would take
her place when she left Jason. Even though she didn’t have the ability to read
minds, she knew Lisania loved Jason.

Just at
this moment, Lisania opened the door and said, “Listen, I don’t want to talk to
you. But we need to wake him up.”

“I guess
you guys had a good start while I was asleep.” Jason said. He slowly got up and
sat on the bed.

“I was
hoping you could do a proper introduction.” Gloria said ironically.

“I would
like to, if I was conscious at that moment.” Jason said unhappily.

“After
you two finish fighting, we have work to do.” Lisania said and left.

“How is
my grandma?”

“She is
dead.” Gloria said sadly.

Jason
let out a long sigh, but he didn’t cry. He was sad but mostly angry.

Gloria
didn’t know what to say, so they just stay in the silence for a long while.

“I am
sorry I didn’t tell you anything about this Hylocan girl. I was worried that
you wouldn’t understand and hate me.” Jason said gently.

“And you
are right about that.” Gloria said coldly. She quickly stood up from Jason’s
bed side and walked out.

Later
Jason learned from Lisania that Lilen passed away when he was still in coma.
Jason wanted to go back to Earth immediately, but Lisania managed to talk some
sense into him. She pointed out that there was no way he could find Tioto in
the slum and killing others would only make him regret later.

After
two hours, the combat vessel touched down on the surface of planet Roito in a
hail storm. The hailstone was as big as a basketball. The planet had a ice cape
that was 2000 meter thick and the ocean beneath it was 500000 meters deep.

Jason,
Gloria and Lisania were checking the two robots in the weapon bay.

“Do you
have any plan?” Gloria asked as she fixed a lance like blood collector on the
robot arm.

“Not
really, we will see as we go. I will take Lisania with me. Just in case you two
fight.” Jason said decisively.

“Thank
you. That is very thoughtful.” Lisania said ironically as she rolled her eyes
at Gloria.

They
climbed into two robots. A door on the deck slowly opened upwards. Jason and
Gloria flew the robots over the ice ground and fired their thermo rifles at the
ice cape. They soon tunneled through the ice cape and ditched into the ocean.

Jason
first felt the liquid was very thick and sticky. Then he noticed the armors
were rattled with small shallow dents.

“This is
not water. It is like some kind of strong acid. They are eating the armor.”
Jason said uneasily.

“It
could be sulfuric acid. We are crossing 100000 meters now. It will take about
10 minutes to reach 500000 meters. We should be all right.” Gloria said calmly.

As they
were plunging deeper, the liquid became more and more murky.

When
they were getting close to the bottom, they saw millions of cylinders
clustering together. Each cylinder was interlocking nearby ones with tentacles.
It looked like an endless undersea forest.

They saw
flash of light in the forest as if stars blinked in the night sky.

“Those are
Tiegotteens.” Lisania said calmly.

“I guess
that is why legend says it moves like lightning.” Jason said uneasily.

“There
is one right below us, closing fast.”

“It
wants to attack us?” Gloria asked.

“To see
us.”

Just at
this moment, a beam of light shot from the bottom, passing right in front of
Jason. It disappeared in a blink.

“That is
what we are looking for.” Lisania said in a heavy tone.

“That is
quick.” Jason sighed.

“The
light we saw was actually its tail and they are smart.” Lisania said.

“What do
you mean they are smart?” Gloria asked impatiently.

“Others
sent it to scare us.”

“Others?”
Jason asked.

“Yea,
there are more than 1000 some one kilometer away.”

“You are
the Oracle!” Gloria said in surprise. She knew only the Oracle could see this
far.

“Really?
You are the Oracle?” Jason asked.

“Guys,
please, let’s focus on why we are here. Right now they are thinking sending
another one to check on us.”

“Can you
get its route?” Jason asked.

“It will
pass in front of Gloria from her right side. Wait my word.” Lisania said
calmly.

Gloria
closed her eyes, a dagger popping out of her forearm armor.

“Get
ready! Five, four, three, two, Now!”

Gloria
thrusted the dagger forwards and it stuck right in the middle of the
Tiegotteen.

‘I got
it! I got it!” Gloria shouted excitedly as she stabbed the blood collector into
its body.

Right at
this moment, hundreds of Tiegotteens lunged at Gloria and Jason from all
directions, ramming their armor suits, knocking them around and throwing them
everywhere.

Jason was
firing everything he had on the robot at those Tiegotteens, but he suddenly
felt pain in every bone. He screamed in pain, blood spewing from his mouth, his
body trembling.

“Jason!”
Lisania yelled.

“What
happened?” Gloria asked nervously.

“He is
dying. It is the bacteria.”

“Get him
out of here now! Now!” Gloria shouted.

Lisania
took over the control and tried to get away from those Tiegotteens. But layers
of Tiegotteens tackled the robot and pulled it to the bottom.

“I am
stuck.” Lisania panicked.

“Use the
emergency pod!” Gloria yelled.

Lisania
pulled the emergency ejection handle. The back of the robot opened and the
emergency pod blasted off like a rocket, jostling through the crowd of
Tiegotteens and heading to the surface.

As
Gloria watched they leave, a big Tiegotteens attacked her robot from behind,
winding its body around it like a snake. Gloria pulled the emergency ejection
handle, but it was too late. The back of her armor suit couldn’t open.

More and
more Tigeotteens attached to the big Tigeotteen and dragged the robot deep into
the undersea forest.